Japan Air
by SukiNora
Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week!  He’s stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home.  1X2 3X4 WufeiXSally
1. Chapter 1

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS. Relena bashing.

A.N. I don't know much Japanese, so here's the deal. "Hi!" Means spoken in English. And 'Hey' Means spoken in Japanese. Unless someone wants to help me out eh…But anyway, I know a few travel phrases so there will be a few thrown in, but for the most part it's "." and '.'

Chapter One

The man had been standing in that line forever He was tired, distressed, confused, and wanted nothing more than to be on a flight to go home. He had a long chestnut colored braid trailing down his back, reaching a little past his waist and resting on top of a long black trench coat. With his ticket in hand he finally approached the desk. Dropping his small carry-on to the floor, he placed his ticket on the counter and slid it over to the cashier.

"Listen. My name's Duo Maxwell. I've been here for over four hours. I was supposed to be on a plane, five hours ago. A plane to go back home. To AMERICA. I was only supposed to be here one day. Just one! Just one day to do an art show! I was on a plane, not twelve hours ago to get here. I just want to go home. Can you please, please, help me out here?" He said, adding particular emphasis on the second please.

The little japanese woman behind the desk sat up a bit to get a better look at the crazy man talking to her. For the life of her she had no idea what he was saying. He had obviously gone to the wrong department. On the other side of the airport was an area for people new to the country, and didn't necessarily understand Japanese fully yet. The woman had friends who would tell her about all sorts of mishaps they'd encountered with people who ended up in the wrong department, so with this knowledge in hand she tried to direct the American in the right direction.

'Just wait one minute sir. I'll try to locate someone who can take you to the correct department so they can help you.' She began to pick up the receiver to the loud speaker only to have the cord ripped out by a very unhappy American.

"No! You will not ignore me!" He screeched, waving the cord around in front of her. "You don't understand! I just want to go home! I was supposed to be a quarter of the way home by now! I'm tired! I'm hungry! I have a very, very important meeting in two days! I can't afford to lose anymore time! I have to get home right now!"

All around the area people started to turn and stare at the enraged American who threw the phone cord down and slammed both his palms on the counter.

'Sir! Please do not cause a scene! I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable! If you'll just wait and be patient I'll have someone escort you to the nearest translator!' The woman hissed, resting a hand on the counter in between the two larger ones of the male who now, although quiet, continued to glare at her.

Sighing the woman tried again slower. 'Sir…please just be patient and I'll try to have someone with you as soon as possible.' Duo stood glaring at the woman who was trying to fit the broken cord back into her phone. Slowly, he folded his hands across the desk.

"Why do you think saying it slower will help us out here." He said in a calm voice. "I just want to get home. If you can't help me, then please find someone who can!" Punctuating his words by slamming his hand on the desk after every syllable, he stood with his eyes wide and menacing, staring into the terrified ones of the smaller woman who was beginning to re-think her career.

'Oi, Heero!'

Heero looked up from his paperwork and leaned back into his desk chair. Today was Friday. Friday, was his day off. Unfortunately his partner at securities wife, Sally Chang-Po, decided to have her baby about three hours ago so Heero had been called into work by his frantic partner, Wufei.

'Quatre, I have a lot of work to get done.' He called to the blonde man running up to his desk. Actually, he didn't really have much to do. The day had been relatively slow and he didn't really need to do anything unless there was a distraught customer somewhere. 'Don't make this harder on me. I wasn't even supposed to be here today…' He thought to himself, cringing at the thought that with only a few more minutes left in his shift he might have to subdue a customer.

Looking back down, he jumped when two hands were slammed onto his desk and he found himself staring into soft blue eyes. 'Nani?'

The blonde stood hunched over the desk, taking in deep breaths of air trying to regain some of the oxygen he'd lost from running across the airport.

'Heero…you speak English fluently right?'

Though a tad skeptical, Heero nodded. He found it to be a strange way to begin a conversation and feared that the said conversation would inevitably end in a favor.

'Great!' Grabbing a hold of his hand, Quatre proceeded to rip Heero from his desk and took off running out of the office and down the hall. They were running so fast Heero was certain the people they were bumping into could see the smoke trailing off their shoes as they flew past him. 'There's a problem down at the ticket counter for Japan-Air! The cashier said they needed an English translator ASAP!'

'Huh?! Wait a minute!' Heero cried as he dug his heals down against the tiles.

'Don't you speak English?!' He said, frantically pushing away at the smaller man. 'What do you need me for?!'

Getting antsier by the minute, Quatre grabbed onto Heero's wrists with both hands and began to pull him forward using his body weight. 'There's no time! Does the words enraged American mean anything to you?!' Suddenly it all fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Enraged American + Airport + Japan Air A job for the head security guard.

It was an odd fact, though true, that Americans who spoke little to no Japanese in the airport were trouble. Heero would know. He'd seen many strange things in the four years he spent working as the head security guard at Tokyo National Airport, and at least three fourths of them had something to do with an American. What was even more shocking was that almost every incident also occurred at the counters for Japan Air.

For example the man who decided to institute a naked mile run in the middle of the winter, or the transvestite who would not leave until he was formally escorted away from the ticket counter. To this day Heero didn't fully understand the term "man-handled."

There were numerous other incidents, most of which were not supposed to be under any kind of discussion after what had happened during them. And they were all Americans, and almost always at Japan Air. Heero let out a sigh and started running again.

After all these incidents, all Americans in the Japanese airport were automatically targeted as strange, crazy, or disruptive. And Heero thought, while descending to the ticket counter, the person standing there looked as crazy as they come. He made the streaker look sane.

Quatre's partner, in work and love, stood backed up against the ticket counter with his arms up as the American proceeded to scream obscenities in his face. Under different circumstances Heero and Quatre may have let out a laugh due to the differences in height of the two men.

While Trowa was a tall, muscular individual, the disruptive customer was a short, lean man. Heero decided right away that this was another case of American Napoleon Complex, or ANC.

'Trowa!' The man in question turned his head away from the red-faced American towards to sound of his name to see his two comrades running up to his rescue. Letting out a deep sigh, Trowa thanked the gods above they got there quickly.

Duo turned to the approaching men and backed away from Trowa, putting his hands on his hips. "Let me guess!" He yelled, lifting his hands up into the air and then letting them fall to his sides. "More people who can't understand me or provide me with any type of help."

"I was trying..." Trowa started, beginning to lean away from the wall.

"You shut up, tree!" Duo yelled while quickly turning around to point a finger in the taller man's face.

This was definitely a job for Heero. While the other two security guards did speak English, they didn't speak it quite as fluently as Heero, thus making it harder to help a distraught customer.

Taking a deep breath Heero stepped forward. "My name is Heero Yuy. Is there something I can help you with?"

Duo gave him a skeptical look. "You speak English?"

Heero nodded.

"Like, you honestly speak it? You're not going to randomly stop understanding what I'm saying and turn me over to someone else?" The American said hopefully.

Heero shook his head while giving the young man the up and the down. He looked very familiar to Heero. His chestnut hair was frazzled and coming out of the braid it was in while his blue eyes stared up at Heero. No matter how much he tried, Heero couldn't put his finger on where he could have met the young man.

"No. Now what seems to be the problem." The man gave a sigh of relief. Duo looked Heero straight in the eye then and gave him a small smile while holding out his hand.

"My name's Duo. Duo Maxwell." He said, firmly shaking Heero's hand. "My flight to L.A. got cancelled about 5 hours ago and no one will tell me why, or when the replacement flights going to take off."

Heero let go of Duo's hand and looked over at the flight board next to the Japan Air ticket counter.

Heero let out a long sigh. "Didn't anyone tell you?"

Duo raised an eyebrow, almost afraid of what the older man would say. "Tell me what." He said slowly.

"The Japan Air pilots went on strike earlier today. That's why all the flights got cancelled."

Duo felt like screaming and tearing his hair out. All he was trying to do was get home and it seemed like the entire universe was against that very action.

"Great." He mumbled to himself. "Fucking great." He ran a hand over his face, trying to make any type of sense of his jumbled thoughts.

"So when are the flights getting rescheduled." Duo whimpered out to Heero. "I have to get out of here by tonight if I'm going to make my meeting."

Heero tried to think of something to tell the American while Quatre began fidgeting behind him. All three of the security guards knew that the Japan Air pilots would probably stay on strike for at least a week but none of them knew exactly how well the American would take that news.

"It really depends on how long the pilots stay on strike. You could always try to find a flight with another airline, sir. I can escort you to another airline if you wish." Heero said while patting the smaller man on the back, hoping to keep the American calm.

Duo scoffed. "Yeah right. There's a reason I was flying on this stupid airline. There aren't anymore flights to California for another week!"

Duo started rubbing his face again. "God I'm going to be in so much trouble."

He began pacing across the area, once again gaining the attention of the many others standing in line trying to get another flight. Heero let out a sigh watching the other man pace. He genuinely wanted to help him but he knew there wasn't anything that could be done.

Flights had been very scarce since the Eve Wars, especially in international travel, and Heero knew that there was absolutely no way the young man would be able to get a flight tonight.

Looking down at his watch, Heero saw that he had been off his shift for exactly three minutes. Turning to Quatre and Trowa, who had been standing behind them, awkwardly listening to the two men, Heero waved them away, letting them know that he had everything under control. The two nodded and began backing away from the pair.

"Mr. Maxwell?" Duo stopped his pacing and turned to look at the security guard. "I'm actually off work now..."

Duo glared and cut him off in mid-sentence. "So that's what it's like in this damn country? If you don't speak English then you leave as soon as you get off work even if a customer needs some fucking help?!" He screeched.

Heero threw his hand out and grabbed onto the shoulder of the American, who was frantically trying to walk in the other direction.

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" Duo halted and turned to face Heero. "I wont lie to you, Mr. Maxwell, you aren't going to get a flight out of here tonight. I was just going to suggest that you get a hotel room before all the rooms get filled. It looks like there's going to be a lot of people in your situation." He said, pointing to the growing line at the ticket counter. "I could give you a ride if you'd like."

Duo gave him a questioning glance, weighing the pros and cons of the offer. Granted, he was in a new country and could use a a guide to help him get into a new hotel, but this guide also could be a homicidal maniac. Duo thought about this for a while and decided the pros outweighed the cons.

"That would be great." He decided.

"Good." Heero said. "Now, if you'll just follow me to my office so I can clock out then we can be on our way."

Duo picked up his carry on bag and started following the security guard. On the way Duo couldn't stop himself from observing the older man. Duo guessed he was about 30, with a seemingly simple life style. He didn't seem to have the stature of a married man with kids like Duo had seen so many times on his older friends.

"Thanks for doing this, by the way." Duo remarked while increasing his pace to match Heero's. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I get a little moody when I haven't eaten anything."

Heero looked over at the smaller man standing next to him. He only looked about 20 years old, and was very skinny. In fact, he was so thin Heero thought if he missed another meal he might just disappear.

"That's understandable. When was the last time you ate something?" Heero questioned.

Duo placed his pointer finger under his chin in thought as the two walked towards the security personals office.

"I'm not sure." He mumbled, still deep in thought. "I think yesterday..." Duo trailed off.

Suddenly his eyes widened and both Heero and himself looked down at Duo's stomach. There was an intense growling sound coming from the neglected tummy and Duo listened intently to the story it told.

"Yes. Definitely yesterday." He said, with a slight nod.

Heero gave this strange American an incredulous look. "Would you like to get something to eat first?"

The smile Duo gave almost made Heero's heart melt. Never before had he seen such a look of pure joy and gratitude on someone's face.

"That would be amazing!" He cried. "But only if you're sure. I mean, you're probably busy or something. You can always just drop me off at some place." Duo said quickly, trying not to seem to pushy.

Heero, however, shook his head at the idea. "I'm not busy."

The two arrived at the security office and Heero slid his pointer finger over a little metal plate next to the metal door. After a few seconds of confirmation and whirling noises, the door unlocked and Heero opened it, holding it open so that Duo could walk in.

"Wow!" Duo exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like that! That's really cool. I always assumed it was like how they show it in the movies. You know, with the codes and stuff."

Heero couldn't help but give a little smile towards the younger man. He was talking a mile a minute.

Heero was staring intensely at Duo who was rambling on about all sorts of things he was seeing inside the office. There were certain attributes Heero was certain he had seen before, but couldn't for the life of him imagine where he could have met the boy. But still, even though it seemed impossible Heero continued to think of where he may have encountered him as he began packing up his briefcase.

"Man seriously, Mr. Yuy, fingerprints! That's so hardcore!"

Heero couldn't help but raise his eye brows a bit and smile. "Well it's not really new technology." He chuckled out. "We can't use the key pads because someone could steal the codes. Finger prints are much more efficient."

Duo nodded but still kept his smile. "Yeah I guess that's true." Duo laughed. "But it's still insanely hardcore!"

Heero looked over at Duo as he led him out through another door which led to a long hallway. "What is hardcore?" He questioned.

As the two walked down the hall they came upon an elevator. Heero pushed the down arrow and waited for Duo's response.

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting that you aren't American." Duo mumbled, slightly embarrassed by his outburst.

Heero let out a chuckle as the two entered the elevator. "I don't think it's so much a problem of nationality so much as age."

Heero's comment caused Duo to blush even more. "Yeah... It basically means really cool..." He trailed off, looking down at his shoes as the elevator started to take them to the underground garage where Heero had his car parked.

The elevator dinged, breaking Duo was from thoughts and the two exited the elevator and began walking towards Heero's car in silence.

"I'm kind of surprised you drive in Tokyo. Seems like there is a ton of traffic." Duo commented as he opened the passenger side door and got in the car.

Heero nodded. "Yeah, it gets bad sometimes but I live pretty close to the airport so I don't have to go too far."

"Oh." Duo responded. "I didn't mean to put you out of your way." He added nervously.

Heero dismissed Duo's comment with a slight wave of his hand as he pulled out of the parking garage. "Think nothing of it. It's the least I could do."

The two drove in silence. Both were encased in their own thoughts and were unsure of what to say. Heero had never done something like this before. Everyday after work he went straight home. He never offered to give anyone a ride home, especially someone who he met just a few minutes ago. However, there was something about this young man that made Heero feel warm inside. This feeling alone let Heero know he had to keep this young man in his life.

Duo on the other hand was looking out the passenger side window trying hard not to bother Heero or say anything stupid.

After a few moments Heero pulled into a small parking lot and drove into a parking place.

"I hope you like noodles." Heero said with a smirk.

Duo licked his lips. "I could eat anything right now and be happy." He said getting out of the car.

He almost skipped along side Heero as the two entered the small noodle bar.

As they were seated Heero made japanese small talk with an older waitress.

"Do you mind if I order for you?" Heero asked.

Duo looked down at the menu, which was completely in japanese, and laid it down in front of him.

"I've gotta get out of this country. I'll never survive here. I'd starve if it wasn't for you, Mr. Yuy." Duo hated being some place where he didn't feel in control. He had only been in Japan for one art show so he hadn't even studied a few travel phrases.

"Call me Heero. Mr. Yuy makes me feel really old." Heero responded, fidgeting a bit in his chair. Discreetly, he looked over his shoulder at the other people in the restaurant and wondered what they thought of the situation. For all he knew they could think he was out for a nice dinner with his half American son. Heero blushed when he thought of the other option.

"Are you okay, Heero? You look really red?" Heero gave himself a mental kick in the pants and tried to hide his face.

"Oh, yes. I'm fine..." He trailed off, signaling the waitress that the two were ready to order.

"I ordered us beef udon. I hope that's okay."

"I wouldn't know the difference. I'm sure it'll be delicious." Duo was leaning on his palm, resting his elbow on the table. Heero could see how tired the younger man was and decided talking might help keep him awake. However, Duo beat him to the punch.

"So, Heero." He said, straightening his back. "Tell me about yourself."

Heero looked up, desperately thinking of something to say.

"How long have you worked in security?" Duo asked, seeing that Heero couldn't think of anything to say.

"Almost my whole life, really." Heero said without thinking.

Duo gave him an odd look. "Your whole life?" He questioned.

"Well, see, my father was a general and my mother died in childbirth."

Duo shifted in his seat. "Oh, I'm sorry." He said, feeling like he had pushed too far for information.

Heero shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I grew up in a very militaristic setting, so when the Eve Wars started I joined the army."

"Wow, you must have been really young." Duo had his head resting in his palm again, but this time was listening intensely to Heero's story.

Heero nodded. "Yeah, 18. So after that they shipped me off to L2..."

"I'm from L2!" Duo cut in.

"I thought you were American." Heero questioned.

"I am! See, when the Eve Wars really got started I was about 6 and I was an orphan on L2."

Heero's eyes widened, and suddenly it was immensely clear where he had met the younger boy.

"So when I was like 5 I was running around with this street gang. But when they started using chemical warfare against L2 most of them died from the plague and I was kind of on my own."

Duo smiled.

"Actually, it was a solider who took me to America. I was in an alley one night, really cold and stuff and he came and gave me some of his rations."

Looking up at Heero, his smile widened. "Thank God for people like you, huh?" He said. "If it wasn't for a young solider like you I'd probably be dead."

Heero couldn't help but stare intensely at the boy sitting across from him. He actually wasn't the reason Duo was in America. Heero could remember that night in the alley as clearly as he could see Duo in front of him.

He was hiding from the colonist forces and had literally stumbled across the little boy, half naked and freezing. He literally looked like he was being starved to death. Heero looked across the table at Duo's small frame and wondered if his current size was a result of his time on L2.

That night he did indeed feed the boy with his rations, and the boy fell asleep against his chest a few moments later. When Heero woke up in the morning the child was gone. He had always thought he had just left with some gang or something.

Heero had always wondered what happened to that little boy, and here he was, sitting in front of him 12 years later.

"Duo." Heero said, clearing his throat. "Would you like to stay at my apartment tonight? I have the room, and I'm right by the airport. At least you wouldn't have to pay for a hotel room."

Duo was speechless. "I don't know, I mean, we just met each other."

Heero could tell he was making the other man uncomfortable by being so forward.

"Well, I mean, granted you don't have to if you're uncomfortable. I just wanted to offer."

Staring at Heero, Duo couldn't really find a reason to distrust the man. He had been a complete gentlemen so far, and being in the army meant for a high level of moral.

"I mean, are you sure? I don't want to put you out. I feel like I've already inconvenienced you."

Heero shook his head. At this point all he wanted to do was make sure Duo was alright. Something he'd wanted to make sure for 12 years.

"Not at all."

"Well, then." Duo said with a slight smile. "I guess that settles it."


	2. Chapter 2

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

Chapter 2

The little boy's feet pounded against the concrete, splattering water against his legs as he ran as fast as his little legs would take him. The colonist patrol was out again, trying to round up children to take to Earth. Most of the children from L2 prayed for the colonist patrol to take them to Earth, but not this child. This child knew better.

The boy tripped over his shoelace and landed face down in a puddle, washing away a bit of the dirt on his face. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet again and ran into a twisted alley adjacent to him, looking behind him every now and then to make sure he wasn't being followed.

He stayed there, breathing heavy for five minutes before he went silent. It was the patrol.

"I don't see any kids." A low male voice said into what the boy assumed was a walkie talkie of some sort. "I didn't think any kids survived the plague."

"Look, someone said they saw a little girl running down the street. This is a war zone, if you haven't forgotten, so just find her and get her to Earth. We don't need to be help responsible for anymore deaths."

The little boy glared at the man as he got closer. He was always being mistaken for a girl because of his hair. He'd always had long hair, and whether or not he hated being mistaken for a girl he wasn't about to cut it for anyone. Sister Helen liked his long hair and that was enough for him.

"Well she must be on the other side of the colony. I've been searching for three hours and I haven't found her. I'll do a quick sweep on the way back but then I'm on my way back to headquarters."

"It's your head man, over and out."

"Over and out."

The little boy let out a sigh of relief as the tall man turned around and began heading in the opposite direction.

Ever since Solo died the little boy had been on the run. Solo was the leader of the boy's gang. He made sure everyone was fed, and had a place to sleep. But ever since the colonist patrol got a little too rough with the boy and accidently killed him, things had gone down hill.

The gang began drifting apart. Each boy trying to find their own food instead of throwing whatever they could into a big pot to be split up. Who ever survived from starvation was killed when the Earthlings unleashed the L2 plague. The little boy, hiding, scared and cold in the alley was the only one left.

He began shivering and started backing further and further into the dark alley. Walking deliberately slow and quiet in case the patrol returned, or decided to do one last sweep.

Suddenly he felt his leg being grabbed and he fell to the ground with a thud. He gasped and stared wide eyed into the barrel of a gun that was shoved directly in his face.

The assailant gasped. "A child?" He asked himself, quickly putting the gun down but holding onto the boy so he wouldn't run away. He grabbed the boy with lightning speed and jerked him closer.

The solider held the boy to his chest and put a hand over his mouth when he felt the boy begin to struggle.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." The child stopped struggling but the solider could still feel the boy shaking, obviously not from cold but from fear.

"I'm hiding too." He whispered, hoping it would be something the boy would understand.

When the solider felt the boy stop shaking and heard his breaths even out he slowly dropped his hold on the boy.

The little boy slowly moved away from the man and sat against the opposite wall in the narrow alley.

"Who are you hiding from." The soldier asked the boy quietly.

"The colonist patrol." The boy responded, just as quiet, but a little more tentative.

The solider gave the boy a strange look. "But why would you run from them? They could take you to a better place. L2 is not safe for children. I haven't seen a child in nearly 8 months."

The boy nodded. "Most of them got sick and died."

The solider found it sad that the child said this with no hesitance. Obviously death had become something quite natural for the boy. But then again, after being a soldier during the Eve Wars, death was something the soldier came to understand very well.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. I just don't want the patrol to get me. They act like they want to make it safe for kids here, but they killed my friend Solo."

"They killed a child?" The solider said, his eyes widening at this news. The colonist patrol was meant to relocate children out of the war zone and take them to a secure location. Most of the children went to America now, going into orphanages or into foster homes.

"Yeah, they didn't mean to, I don't think. But they were trying to make him go with them and he didn't want to. So they started beating on him and shit." The child said, anger radiating in his voice.

"A cute child like you shouldn't swear like that." Smiling, the solider held out his large hand in front of the little boy.

"My name is Odin."

The little boy stared at the hand in front of him. He had never been shown any type of acknowledgment by an adult before. After careful thinking, the little boy also held out his hand to the soldier.

"I'm Duo."

"Duo, huh. That's a rather unusual name." Odin said, lightly shaking the little boy's hand.

"I didn't have a name before Solo died. He was the head of our gang. So, when he died I was the new head guy. So, I'm Duo."

Odin nodded. "Where's the rest of the gang?"

"Dead."

"Where they all children?" Odin asked tentatively.

"Most of us. Johnny and a few other guys were maybe 8 or 9, I think..."

It was hard to hear that. L2 had become a total war zone in the last 8 months. Odin thought it was sick that the population of L2 hadn't been evacuated before the invasion. Being an Earthling solider, Odin had no choice when he was to be deployed, and so he found himself hiding on a half destroyed colony from the Colonial militia.

"Who are you hiding from?" Duo questioned.

The solider chuckled a little and pulled a cigarette out of his shirt pocket. "The same people as you, really."

A huge smile appeared on the little boy's face and he leaned forward, closer to the solider. "That's great! We can stick together and start our own gang!"

Duo stood up, becoming just a little taller than the sitting man. "It's always better to have someone watching your back, you know. And me, I've been on these streets my whole life! You couldn't get a better leader!"

Odin chuckled at the little boy's enthusiasm. "How old are you anyway, kid."

The big smile turned to a deep grimace in a millisecond. "I am not a kid."

"Oh, my mistake." The solider chuckled and light his cigarette. "I didn't mean to offend."

Duo plopped down onto his backside and folded his legs. "You should be sorry. And here I was about to offer to stick around with you."

"I am sorry, sir." Odin hid his smirk by taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Looking up and down the alley, Duo knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to stay by himself while the patrol was out.

"I dunno, I mean, you could stick around if you wanted..." He trailed off, softly.

Odin gave a little smile as he exhaled, tilting his head back so the boy wouldn't get smoke in his face.

"Yes, I suppose I could do that. You watch my back?"

After being on L2 for 8 months there was one thing Odin had learned when dealing with the locals, especially those who were hiding from the colonial police or the earthling soldiers, and that was trust. The you scratch my back, I scratch yours tendency. Odin hoped that would be enough to keep the child with him. It had been a long time since he had been able just to sit with another person without worrying if they were going to turn on him.

The little boy flashed him a thumbs up. "Sounds good to me. So, where are you from anyway?"

"I lived in Japan for a while."

Duo's eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open. "You're from Earth!?" He cried, his voice stained with a mix of amazement and worry.

"Don't worry, Duo." The soldier said, staying very still to show that he was no threat to the colony brat. "A lot of the rumors you hear about the earth soldiers aren't true. Most of us are just caught in the middle with no way out."

"Like me?"

Odin looked over at the little boy, now sitting against the brick wall staring at him with sympathetic eyes.

"Yeah. Kind of like you." He responded softly, turning away. "You know, you seem to know quite a bit for such a small man."

Duo shrugged. "I've been around."

"I can see that." Odin laughed, looking over the boy. He was wearing ripped up jean shorts and a tattered brown long sleeve. An outfit that was completely wrong for the harsh chill of the air. One of the first things the Earthlings did to the colonies was interrupt their air systems. The cold of space began seeping into the colonies.

"Aren't you cold?" He asked.

The little boy looked down at himself and shook his head. "Not really, you get used to the cold. It only gets bad at night, really."

"Do you want my jacket?" Odin didn't really buy the boy's answer. The goose bumps rising on his arms also helped expose Duo's lie. Odin knew very well that when the colony was past the sun in its orbit the colony would drop at least 30 degrees.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Suit yourself." Odin responded, taking another drag. The two sat in a kind of eerie silence while Odin finished his cigarette and extinguished the remainder on the wall behind him. Leaning back, he sighed and looked up. The artificial atmosphere was growing very thin and Odin wondered how long before the entire colony was going to be suffocated or frozen.

"Have you killed anyone?" Came a small voice. Odin looked down to glance at Duo. The boy had curled up and was resting his head between his knees staring at the soldier.

"Don't worry, kid." Odin softly responded. "I'm not going to kill you."

"That's not what I'm worried about." The little boy said, crawling across the alley to sit next to Odin. "I was just wondering. You've got that look."

Odin looked down at the small boy sitting next to him.

"What look?"

"The look they got when they killed Solo."

Staring down at the boy next to him Odin wondered how such a small boy was so in tune with his surroundings. However, after living on the street for his whole life it did make sense to Odin. When you lived by the street's rules, reading people can be the difference between life and death.

"It's like I said, kid. A lot of us are just stuck with no way out. Most of us don't even know what we're fighting for anymore. Sanc just wants more control than they can get. The Peacecrafts will never let go of the colonies while they've got an heir to inherit them." Odin felt himself growing angrier and angrier as he continued speaking.

"Boy, do I know it." Duo said with the wave of a hand. The boy's eyes were half open and he was back to laying his face on his knees.

Odin's anger melted away and he looked down at the boy, who obviously had no idea what he was talking about. Looking down on his cute face Odin wondered if there was anyway he could smuggle the child onto his transport.

Checking his watch, Odin saw that it was only 9 p.m. He cursed his timing of finding the child. Wufei wouldn't be available for safe communication for another 6 hours, and by then the transport would be ready for pick up.

Odin felt a pressure on his arm and looked down to see the little boy had fallen asleep, and was now leaning limp against his arm.

As he was staring down at the boy, Odin felt a sense of calm come over him. He had never considered himself a fatherly type person, but for some reason Odin didn't want to leave this kid.

"Goodnight, kid." He whispered, wrapping his arm around the small child, pulling his closer to himself. For whatever reason Odin felt the need to protect this boy. So, using his body as a shield, Odin too drifted into sleep.

A few hours later Odin was awakened by Duo shifting closer to him, mumbling something in his sleep.

Odin looked down at his watch. 1 a.m. It was getting very cold on the cement and since Odin was beginning to get hungry he could only assume how hungry the boy was.

"Duo. Wake up." He said, shaking the boy's shoulder.

Duo sat up from Odin's shoulder and gave a quick glance to his surroundings through half lidded eyes.

"Is it morning?" The boy mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Not yet. Are you hungry?" Odin asked, knowing that if he had to leave the boy it would be better to leave him with something in his stomach.

"You have food?" With his eyes wide Duo looked the soldier up and down, looking for any traces of something to eat.

Odin unbuttoned the bottom pocket on his pants and pulled out something that looked like a twig. "Just energy sticks. But they'll suffice for now."

Pulling out another stick, Odin held one in his teeth and handed the other to Duo.

"This smells awful!" Duo cried as he took the energy stick, automatically holding it as far away from himself as possible.

With a look of confusion, Odin took his energy stick out of his mouth and smelled it. "It's not that bad is it?"

Duo looked over at him with a look of disbelief. "It smells like poo!"

"No it doesn't." Odin replied. "It smells like protein."

"I've fallen for that before." Mumbled Duo, hesitantly taking a microscopic nibble from the stick. He looked over at the soldier and gagged.

Odin shook his head and started chewing on his stick. "That's very good for you, kid."

"No wonder it tastes terrible." Duo sat there staring hesitantly at the energy stick but eventually gave in, and began chewing on the stick.

After looking down the alley, Odin turned back to Duo, who was looking a little green as he tried to chew through the jerky like substance.

"Where do you usually hide in the day time?" Odin found it strange that throughout the entire course of the L2 invasion the boy could have gone undiscovered.

"There's a warehouse a few blocks down that no one ever checks in. My gang used to stay in the attic of it." Duo groaned out, sticking out his tongue, hoping that the slight breeze might blow away the foul taste on his tongue.

"You don't have to eat that. Just save it for later." Odin couldn't help but let a little smile emerge on his face when he saw the boy's face light up. "You can go back to sleep. I just thought you might be hungry."

Duo nodded and began curling up, resting his head against the brick wall.

Odin looked down on the small boy drifting off to sleep. In a few hours he'd most likely have to leave the boy, and for some reason it was truly weighing down his conscience.

After Odin was sure the boy was completely asleep, he removed his jacket and placed it over the sleeping boy, leaving him in only his torn cargo pants and black wife beater. He had grown used to the cold since he came to L2, so he wouldn't really miss the jacket. He could always get a new one.

A slight noise and a rustling motion caused Odin to jerk his head up from Duo. He squinted his eyes down the alley. There was someone.

Obviously the intruder knew of his presence. Odin contemplated waking the boy but thought better of it. It wouldn't do the boy any good to be in the hands of the colonial militia.

Reaching over the boy, Odin began covering him as quietly as he could with the newspapers he had gathered before entering the alley. On L2 there was always a chance of catching a rat to eat, but it would do him no good if he had no way to cook it.

After he was finished, Odin stood and began walking down the opposite side of the alley. Just as he expected the intruder followed him.

"Hold it, right there."

Odin stopped in his tracks, hoping he was far enough away from the boy that he wouldn't be woken.

"Put your hands up and turn around slowly." Odin slowly raised both his hands up, spreading his fingers in the air so they could be easily seen in the dark lighting.

Slowly turning around Odin faced a tall man with dark hair and a scruffy beard.

"You are in a restricted area. Take out your identification card, lay it on the ground in front of you, and back away slowly."

Slowly reaching with his right hand, Odin moved his hand cautiously to his back pocket.

The Earthling soldiers had quickly caught onto the colonists procedure of asking for identification and thus had been equipped with a counter fit colonial identification card.

Odin held his card tightly in his hand, very slowly bending over and laying it on the ground in front of him.

"I said back away." Scowling, Odin took a few steps back. He hoped it would be enough to satisfy the man, since it certainly wasn't far enough away for Odin not to grab him.

The man hesitantly took little steps towards the id, leaning down with each progression. He kept his eyes on Odin as he leaned farther, and farther down. When he got to his knees, he began feeling around on the ground for the id. That was when he made his fatal flaw.

He looked down when he couldn't find the id by feeling. The next instant he found himself with his neck in the hands of Odin.

Not wasting any time, Odin held him with one hand and did a weapons search with the other. All he found was a knife and gun, which he kept in his hand while he threw the knife far out of reach.

Letting go of the man, Odin shoved him onto the ground in front of him, pointing the gun between his eyes.

"Now I want to see your id." Odin growled out.

The man on the ground fumbled around a bit before finding his id and throwing it to the feet of Odin.

Odin kneeled down, grabbing the man again by the neck and holding him an arms length away while he grabbed the id. It was another fake colonist id.

Odin scoffed and threw him back on the ground, throwing his fake id down to him.

"Damn, soldier, I thought the earth training corps told you never to leave an opening like that. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm here to transport a Lowe back to Earth."

Odin's eyes widened. "You're with Chang?"

"Yeah, are you Lowe?" The man questioned.

"Yeah, but Chang isn't supposed to be here for hours." Odin looked down and checked his watch.

"The colonist patrol's beginning to have sweeps every three hours, we had to land now while their security was still loose. We have to get off L2 as soon as possible."

Odin stared at the pile of newspapers down the alley, wondering if it would be worth it to take the child. He'd have no way to monitor him, and there was not way he could complete his term of service with a kid to look after.

"Where's the launch point?" He asked, turning his head away from the newspapers to look at the soldier.

"It's on top of the warehouse down the street."

Odin nodded. "Get going, and tell Wufei I'll be there in a minute. There's something I have to do first."

The soldier took a step forward. "We don't have much time."

"I know, I'll be there soon." The other man nodded and turned back towards the entrance to the alley and began walking towards the launch point.

Odin let our a sigh, turning again to the pile of newspapers. He slowly walked over and knelt along side it. He lightly removed the papers from the boy to see his sleeping face. Odin smiled, the kid was knocked out.

Taking out the rest of his rations, Odin laid it next to the boy. Then he took all the remaining credits he had and lightly began stuffing it in Duo's pockets.

When he was finished he looked down on the sleeping boy and ran his hand over his head.

"Good luck, kid." He whispered before standing.

Odin didn't turn back as he walked from the alley. It was hard enough to know that he was leaving a child in the war zone. He could only hope that he'd find a way off the colony with the credits he left him.

Duo laid sleeping the in alley long after Odin had left. Hiding around a colony was very tiring, especially for a 6 year old boy. He was so tired he didn't even notice when another man walked down the alley.

"Richards, you aren't going to believe it." A voice whispered. "I found the kid."

"Great, get her on the shuttle. You better hurry it's the last one tonight and we need to clear the zone before we blast." Came the response from the walkie talkie.

"Got it." The patroller said, lightly picking up Duo and carrying him to the shuttle.

The next time Duo woke up, he found himself wearing Odin's jean jacket with 117 credits in the pockets, and on a shuttle to Earth.

He smiled and sat up in his seat, looking around at all the adults in the shuttle with him and began searching for Odin.

'He must have bought me a ticket...' Duo thought to himself with a smile. He was kind of sad that Odin didn't seem to be on the same shuttle, but it was understandable. After all, Odin was a soldier. Of course he wouldn't ride on the same shuttle as the civilians.

Duo sat back into his seat and looked out the window. 'I'm sure he'll be waiting for me when I get to Earth.' He thought to himself with a big smile plastered onto his face.


	3. Chapter 3

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

Chapter 3

After dinner, Heero and Duo drove to Heero's apartment in silence. Duo was staring out the window, even breathing quietly, trying to block out the awkward situation with the neon lights of Tokyo.

Heero couldn't help glancing over at Duo while he was driving. He felt ashamed that he hadn't recognized Duo the moment he saw him. Hell, he even kept his long hair, so there was no real reason he shouldn't have recognized him.

He had the same big blue eyes that would shimmer with violet in the right light, the same long hair, and the same small frame.

As Heero pulled the car into his parking garage, about a block away from the airport, Duo felt himself start to sweat.

'I shouldn't be doing this.' He thought to himself, as Heero drove methodically, obviously not searching for a space but driving to an assigned parking spot. He glanced over at Heero, and took in a deep breath.

'Oh well,' he thought, 'at least I'll be getting eaten alive by an attractive person if he does turn out to be crazy.'

Heero pulled into a parking spot near an outlet with a stair way, elevator, and hallway door. Turning off the car and pulling his key out of the ignition, Heero turned his head towards Duo.

"Well, here we are." He said, taking off his seat belt while simultaneously opening his door.

Duo felt himself exhaling the deep breath that he felt he'd been holding ever since they got into the car. 'No turning back now.' He thought to himself and opened his door, swallowing his anxiety.

"It's this way." Heero said quietly, nodding towards the hallway door. He took out a key and unlocked the door. When the two entered the hall, filled with the doors of numerous apartments, Duo gasped.

"Oh my God, you live in the fucking Buckingham Palace!" He exclaimed happily, unable to contain his excitement.

Each door had an old fashioned lamp outside of it and the doors themselves had old fashioned, gold numbers across them, and the floor had a long red rug with a gold design running down it.

Heero chuckled at the younger man who was inspecting the lamp outside each door.

"I suppose it is pretty nice." He laughed out when Duo tried to bite his neighbors lamp, trying to see if it was indeed real gold.

"Here's my apartment." Heero reached into his pocket and grabbed his house keys. First he unlocked the top lock, then the dead bolt, and then the little door knob lock.

Duo nearly shoved Heero out of the way when the door opened. "Wow! God your place is so much nicer than mine!" He cried.

Heero laughed, picking himself up and watched as Duo nearly ran around his apartment. It was only when he took the final steps into his apartment, and closed the door behind him that Duo stopped jabbering about all the things in his apartment to flash him a huge smile.

"I feel like I might as well be staying in a hotel!" He said, going back to walking around.

For a moment, when Heero saw that smile on Duo's face, he was back on L2 all those years ago, and Duo was once again that little kid in the alley. Only now he was running around in the lap of luxury.

"I'm glad you like it." He said, sitting down to watch Duo inspect everything, just as he imagined the child Duo would do in the same situation.

"I love it!" Duo turned around from inspecting the breakfast bar to see Heero sitting down on his leather couch. "I really can't say thank you enough, Heero."

"Don't even worry about it. It was the least I could do after your flight got canceled."

Duo gave a little nod, and sat onto the stool near the breakfast bar. The two sat for a little while in silence. Duo was leaning forward, trying to get a better look at the kitchen while Heero was content just to have Duo in his presence again.

'I wonder if I should tell him...' Heero kept thinking to himself, trying to weigh the pros and cons the statement would bring. What if Duo thought he was trying to pull something on him? But then again, what if Duo had been thinking about Odin as much as Odin had been thinking about Duo?

"Hey, Heero?" Came a muffled voice, shaking Heero from his thoughts. "Your vid- phone is blinking."

"My what? Oh! Wufei!" Heero said, feeling slightly ashamed that he hadn't called Wufei to see how the baby was doing. He nearly ran from the couch into the kitchen and began playing the message.

"Heero, I'm a dad." Came a befuddled voice. Duo leaned further into the breakfast bar, attempting to see the face of the speaker. "I just can't believe it. We'll stop by tomorrow before we go home. I just..." There was a long pause and the sound of a deep inhale. "I'm a dad."

Heero smiled as the vid- screen turned itself off.

"Who was that?" Came a voice from the side.

"It was..." Heero turned to look at Duo and couldn't help from laughing. The American was laying half in his sink with his hands folded under his chin, staring at him.

"It was my friend Wufei. He lives next door." He said, trying not to laugh too hard at Duo. "He works with me in security. His wife just had her baby today. That's actually the only reason I was at work today. Friday is usually my day off."

"Well, thank God from him I guess." Duo said with a strained voice as he tried to push himself out of the breakfast bar window. When he was finally free he let out a deep breath and plumped back down onto the stool.

Heero chuckled. "Thank God very much. If Wufei was working you'd probably still be in the airport holding cell for unruly behavior."

"Oh. So he's a strict fellow? Feel bad for his kid." Duo muttered that last part.

"She will be a very well disciplined girl that is for sure." Heero walked through the living room to sit at the table across from Duo.

"So, what brought you to Japan?" Heero asked. It had occurred to him on the ride home that during dinner they only talked about Duo's past on L2, and he had no real idea of what Duo even did for a living.

"I had a gallery showing that my agent said I needed to be here for. I tried to tell him I had no idea how to speak Japanese, but he obviously didn't listen. I basically spent the whole night drinking champaign and talking to myself." Duo said that last part much more quietly than the rest.

"You're an artist?" Heero questioned, not quite sure if he was surprised or expecting such a profession.

"Yeah, mostly painting and ink. But I do some photography too." Duo shifted a little in his seat. He had always been very modest about his art work.

"I'd love to see some of your work." Heero said hopefully.

"I actually don't have any on me right now..." Duo trailed off. "Oh! Do you have a computer?"

Heero nodded and motioned for Duo to follow him. The two walked through the living room, and down a small hallway that led to another, making a T shape. To the right was Heero's room, straight ahead the bathroom, and to the left Duo thought he could make out a guest bedroom.

The two walked into Heero's bedroom. It was painted a light brown color, with only a bed, an end table next to it, a dresser, and a desk.

'Wow, living the simple life I guess.' Duo thought to himself, slightly embarrassed when he thought of his own room back in California. He couldn't even walk to his bed without stepping over or on something.

Heero had a lap top opened on the small desk in the corner of the room. "Do you have a website?" Heero asked as he opened his browser.

Duo shook his head. "No, but one of my friends back home told me that if you google image my name my work comes up."

"So you're a well known artist." Heero said with an impressed tone as he typed in Duo Maxwell.

When the page popped up Duo felt all the blood drain from his face and he nearly jumped onto Heero's lap to block his view of the lap top.

"Actually, I think I have my sketch book in my bag! Lets go look!" He said quickly, slamming the laptop shut and dragging Heero back into the living room, praying that his host didn't see the picture that had been haunting him every day since it had been taken.

Heero blushed as he was dragged into his living room and harshly thrown onto his sofa, wondering if he truly saw what he thought he did. He watched as the little, innocent boy he once knew plopped his bag down on his table and began ruffling through it.

As the image he had just seen on his computer replayed in his mind, Heero's face grew an even darker shade of red.

"Here it is." Duo said, plopping down next to Heero and handing him his sketch book. Heero looked over at the young man sitting next to him. If it was possible Heero thought he seemed even more red than himself.

'That must mean I saw what I think I did...' He thought to himself, breathing in a deep gulp of air.

Heero looked down at the medium sized black book laying him his lap and ran his fingers over the worn cover. Carefully, he picked up the edge and opened the book in his lap.

All at once his embarrassment turned to amazement as numerous sketches of people, places, and objects flooded his vision.

"These are amazing, Duo." He said quietly. In such a situation he thought it would be perverse to say it any louder. He was in the presence of little medium sized masterpieces, not to mention another life sized one sitting next to him.

"I suppose." Duo responded with a small blush. "They're just rough sketches really."

Heero turned the sketch book side ways to look at the dark profile of a man with shaggy hair, somewhat reminiscent of his own.

"That's him." Heero could detect a little happiness in Duo's voice.

"That's who?" He asked, bringing the book a little closer to his face.

"Odin. That soldier I told you about at dinner."

Heero froze in place, now staring intensely at the picture.

"I don't remember much about what he looked like so I always kind of draw him in the shadows."

"I see." Heero searched for something to say that wouldn't give away his identity but still sounded like he was interested. "He seems very special to you..."

Duo ran his fingers over the profile and let out a happy sigh. "I'd give anything to see him again."

Heero turned his head from the picture and gazed at Duo with sad eyes. In a strange and obscure way Heero wanted nothing but to grab onto Duo and never let him go.

"I..." Heero began, trying to search for the right words to say. "I'm sorry he wasn't waiting for you." He said softly, closing the sketch book and setting it on his coffee table. "I'm sure he wanted to." More than anything, he thought to himself.

"Yeah." Duo said, picking his sketch book off the coffee table and putting it back in his bag. "I've always kind of wondered about that."

Duo's smile slowly disintegrated as he thought about Odin. When he got off that shuttle he waited at the dock all day, waiting for the soldier. Eventually a police man asked where his parents were, and Duo responded that he was waiting for Odin, the soldier that put him on the shuttle.

The man waited with Duo until the shuttle dock closed, then took him to the police station where he stayed until they could enroll him in an orphanage.

"Well, it's getting late.' Heero said, shaking Duo from his thoughts. Duo looked down at his watch to see it was nearly 10 o' clock.

'Wow.' He thought to himself. 'This guy must have absolutely no life if he think 10 o'clock is late.'

"Yeah, it is getting kind of late." Duo faked a yawn, not wanting to be rude. Obviously Heero was not the kind of party animal Duo had become from years of living in California.

"You can just take your stuff into my room." Heero said, getting up from his side of the couch and began removing the cushions. "I'll wake you before I go to work."

"No, no. I couldn't put you out of your bed." Duo said, standing up quickly and grabbing onto Heero's arm. "You've already done too much. Please."

Heero blushed as he looked down at the hand holding his arm. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, you've already done enough." Duo said with a smile, releasing his arm.

Heero nodded. "I'll get you a blanket then."

Duo watched as Heero headed back towards his bedroom. He let out a sigh and began pulling the the rest of the cushions from the couch, assuming had a pull out bed.

After moving the coffee table to the side, Duo pulled on the metal handle of the pull out bed to find it was already made up with crisp sheets. He couldn't help but laugh as he sat down on the bed, wondering if he washed these sheets as regularly as his bed sheets, just in case.

"Um, here." Heero said, awkwardly holding a fluffy white duvet at arms length.

Duo couldn't help but laugh while he took the duvet from Heero. The older man in front of him looked almost child like. He held out the blanket hesitantly, as though he was afraid his guest might not take it. This hesitance made an incredibly cute look appear on Heero's face.

Duo held the duvet to his chest but continued to stare at Heero, who must have found something very interesting to look at on the wall.

"Well, thank you for everything Heero." Duo then, by some strange means of impulse or lust, leaned forward on the tips of his toes and gave Heero a lingering kiss on his cheek.

"Goodnight." He said softly, slowly descending back onto his heels, not really believing that he had done it.

Heero felt his mind go blank when Duo's lips touched his cheek. "Goodnight." He nearly whispered, too dazed to say it any louder.

Duo gave a little nod and took his blanket back to the pull out bed. He sat on the edge of it and began pulling off his worn shoes.

Heero stared down at the young man sitting in his living room. Then, as though he was in a trance, Heero walked the three steps to stand in front of his sitting guest.

Looking up at him, Duo sat with a bewildered look on his face as Heero knelt in front of him, bringing them eye to eye.

"Heero?" Duo began to ask, but was silenced by a soft pair of lips, barely grazing across his own.

The two stayed like that for a while, neither adding pressure, but not making any moves to separate. Heero didn't even dare to touch Duo with his hands, and kept them pinned firmly to his sides.

With much hesitance, Heero then pulled away, keeping his eyes half closed and his voice low. "Goodnight, Duo."

Duo followed the retreating form with half lidded eyes, wondering if what he thought just happened truly did.

He plopped back down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. For some explainable reason, what had happened truly felt right. Not strange, awkward, or wrong. Just right.

'Well, I guess you can thank that asshole for snapping that picture now.' Duo thought to himself as a coy smile appeared on his face.

After pulling off his remaining shoe, Duo spread the duvet out on the bed and fell into it, grabbing one of the couch pillows, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Heero, on the other hand, sat on the edge of his bed with his face in his hands, wondering what the hell he had kissed his guest for.

'God, he's going to leave.' He thought to himself, wondering if maybe he ought to go out and apologize the his guest. Not that he had many guests, that were single anyway, but he assumed that if you kissed one of them without their consent it would be appropriate to apologize.

'Yes. Apologize, I mean, you don't even know if he's gay.' However, just as soon as the thought had left his head another spoke up and said, 'Oh yes you do,' and his eyes automatically turned back to the lap top.

Heero knew exactly what bordered on, and was an invasion of privacy, after all he worked in the airline business, and Heero knew that if he looked at that picture again it would be blatantly disrespectful and a certain invasion of privacy.

'But you want to.' Heero cursed that damned voice, but decided not to lie to himself and walked over to his desk. It wasn't that he wanted to see the picture again, honestly, he just wanted to make sure it was what he thought it was.

He ran his hands over the lap top and down to the open latch. He kept trying to tell himself it was wrong, but that proved to be ineffective as he opened his browser.

His breath became haggard as he typed the name Duo Maxwell.

Then there it was. A younger Duo, clad in leather pants and a black t-shirt with his leg wrapped around another man. And they were kissing.

Heero quickly shut the computer and took the quickest route back to his bed. He dressed quickly and methodically, and was quickly in his bed clothes. Sweat pants.

Heero got under his covers and tried to turn his brain off. 'At least you know he might be interested.'

"Shut up." He whimpered quietly to himself, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

The night passed on for the two fairly quickly.

Duo laid on his pull out bed, half in the covers half out, clad in boxers and a t-shirt with his long hair loose and flowing around him.

Heero lay on the left side of the bed on his side with his hand under his pillow.

All seemed like it was going well until 5: 30 a.m. when someone began to unlock the front door.

"Try to be quiet, I want to surprise him." Came a low voice from the hall. The door slowly opened, letting in some of the light and effectively waking Duo up. He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes and turned to the door.

"Heero? Why are you sleeping out..." Another voice said as someone flipped on the light switch.

When the light flooded the room the woman among the group screamed, effectively making the small baby they had with them start to cry, and then making Heero's guest jump back in surprise, and fall off the bed.

Heero appeared from the T hall way within seconds with a gun poised at the door.

"Goddamn it, Quatre. I told you that key is for emergencies only!" Heero said sternly, putting the safety back on his gun and setting it on the coffee table.

"But it was! We brought the baby." The blond responded, in his defense.

"Well where is it?"

Another man, with a long brown side bang spoke up. "It started crying when Sally screamed so Wufei is unlocking their door for her. He'll bring the baby over later."

Heero side and sat down on the pull out bed. He was getting too old to be woken up in the middle of the night. Then his eyes widened and he turned quickly and looked down at the floor.

"Duo, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Came a muffled voice. "I think I'll just stay down here for a while."

"Nonsense, come back up here. I'll introduce you to my friends." Heero said, reaching his hand on the floor to help his guest up.

"Hi?" He said, still somewhat disoriented from the encounter. "I'm Duo."

"The man from the airport?" Quatre questioned as Wufei slammed open the door.

"I want to talk to you." He said angrily, pointing at Heero.

Heero nodded and motioned towards his bedroom, leaving Duo to fend for himself.

Wufei slammed the door behind him as they entered the bedroom. "I tell you I'm bringing my baby over and you call a hooker?!"

Nearly falling over at the accusation, Heero put his arms out to try to balance himself.

"He is not a hooker! He's a man from the airport. His flights got cancelled so I let him stay here."

"Oh please, don't use any excuses." Wufei said, plopping himself down in his desk chair.

"Wufei, I'm not. That's Duo out there." Heero said, softly, yet still matter of fact.

"That's who?"

"The kid from the alley."

Wufei looked up from his hands and stared at Heero with a look of disbelief. "Are you sure?"

Heero nodded. "He told me the story. And knows my code name."

Looking rather awkwardly at Heero, Wufei obviously had something to say, but wasn't sure how. "Heero, not that I'm not happy for you, but, what intentions do you exactly have with him?" He asked slowly, almost afraid to know the answer.

Heero could only blush in response.

"Oh God, Heero! He's probably young enough to be your kid! Is probably isn't even legal!"

"Yes it is." Heero said, opening his door. "I made sure."


	4. Chapter 4

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

A.N. So from now on, each chapter will be a day that Duo will stay in Japan with Heero. I'll start the chapter off with the two waking up, and end it with them going to bed. (It may get saucy.) I'm sorry about the long wait!

Chapter 4

Heero felt terrible as he looked down at his sleeping guest. He tied his tie slowly, trying to give him as much time as possible to sleep before he needed to be woken.

After introducing Duo to his friends, Heero decided going back to bed would be pointless. After all, he'd just have to wake up in a half hour anyway. Duo, on the other hand, decided that any amount of sleep would be worth it.

Heero lightly sat down next to the sleeping Duo, and began to put his shoes on. He was actually amazed Duo had stayed after being woken up in such an abrupt manner. Obviously the young man was very tolerant, or very trusting.

Sighing, Heero finished tying his shoes and shifted his torso to the side to look at the man who could almost be confused for a dead man. Well, he could have if there wasn't a steady stream of drool coming out the left side of his mouth.

Lightly putting his hand on Duo's shoulder, Heero gave him a little shake in an attempt to wake him.

"Duo, I have to go to work."

Duo responded with a mix between a grunt and a groan.

Heero smiled and gave Duo's back two firm pats. "I'll come back to get you for lunch."

Duo sat up slightly and stared at Heero with half open eyes. "Lunch?"

"Yeah, I'll come home for lunch."

"You're leaving?" Came the confused response.

Heero couldn't help but laugh a little at the disoriented young man. "I have to go to work now," he said, getting up from the bed and reaching for his brief case.

"Oh, can I go? I still need to get another flight," Duo asked, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

Looking at the clock, Heero found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. "I have to go now or I'll be late..." He trailed off, trying to think of a resolution.

"Tell you what," Heero grabbed his brief case with one hand and put the other into his pants pocket. "When you get ready, lock up the house and take a cab to the airport."

Heero tossed the keys to Duo, who awkwardly caught them, and gave him a small smile before he opened the door and walked out.

Looking down at the set of keys, Duo was amazed that a man could be so tolerant of another person. 'He's so trusting,' he thought to himself, looking at the door.

"God, why can't you find a guy like that in America?' He asked himself as he pushed the covers off himself. 'Oh yeah, because you live in L.A,' he reminded himself and rolled off the bed.

Duo looked over at the clock and let out a long groan. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been up this early, but he guessed that he hadn't been in the age double digits yet.

Duo grabbed his bag from under the bed and threw it on the disheveled pull out bed and began looking through it to find some clothes that didn't smell too horrible.

"And this is why you pack one more set of clothes than you expect to need," he said to himself as he threw each piece of clothing onto the bed, deeming them all to be far too smelly to be worn in public.

"Great," he sat down and put his head in his hands. "Now what?"

Leaning back onto the bed, Duo wondered if airports still had the no shirt, no shoes, no service policy.

"I've gotten myself into such a predicament," he moaned out.

Duo fell back onto the mattress with a plop and put his arms behind his head. Just then, a thought came to him. He slowly sat up and turned his head towards the T hallway.

Straightening out his leg and pointing his toe, Duo leaned forward and gave two skips towards the hall. He leaned against the wall and cocked his head far to the left, trying to see into Heero's room.

Needlessly looking around, Duo took small steps towards Heero's room, trying to convince himself he was only going to get something to wear and not to snoop around.

Moving as graceful as a jungle cat, and being just as deadly, Duo set a toe inside Heero's room. Next came a foot, a leg, and then finally half a body. He looked around the corner of the door, craning his neck as far as it could go. It seemed clear.

Duo nearly tip toed around, always looking behind his back, checking for the person or camera that may incriminate him.

Grabbing a hold of the closet door, the thought occurred to Duo that he might not fit in any of Heero's clothes. He paused as he thought about this, but opened the closet after deeming it better to walk around in baggy clothes than smelly ones.

-------------

'Are you honestly trying to tell me that you don't feel anything for him? Come on, I wasn't even there for an hour and you couldn't stop making gushy faces at him.'

Heero glared at the security screens in his office, trying hard to block out the annoying accusations of his co- worker.

'Though I must say, he is rather young for you. But that's not to say that I'm not happy you're branching out into new things. I just never figured this kind of thing would become a hobby for you.'

Heero roughly pushed the scan button on one of the monitors, almost praying for any unruly behavior that might get him away from the nagging blonde.

'He isn't a hobby, Quatre,' he said with much annoyance laced onto his words. 'He's just someone who needed some help.'

'Some help, eh?" The smaller man sat on the small ledge below the wall of security monitors, obstructing Heero's view. 'Some help with what exactly?'

'Cut it out,' Heero said, pushing on the blondes shoulder in an attempt to make him move. 'He explained this all to you this morning.'

'Do you really expect me to believe that you of all people are letting a complete stranger live in your apartment with you?'

Heero couldn't help but clench his fists as his friend kept trying to pry information out of him.

'Stop it, Quatre,' he said through grit teeth. 'It's my business.'

Quatre looked down to the floor and slid over on the ledge so Heero could view the monitors completely. Obviously the matter was of great importance to Heero if he became cross so quickly.

'Sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you,' Quatre apologized. 'I know you're already stressed. But maybe she wont come today.' He suggested with the slight tilt of his head.

Heero felt like bashing his head into one of the monitors. 'It's saturday?" He moaned out the question.

'Don't tell me you forgot,' Quatre said with a raised eyebrow.

'I told Duo we'd have lunch together.' Heero put his elbows down on the ledge and started rubbing his temples.

'Maybe you told him subconsciously.' Looking up towards the ceiling, Quatre folded his arms across his chest.

'Told who, what subconsciously?'

The two turned their attention to the door of the security offices. A slender man about 4 inches taller than Heero entered.

'Heero forgot about his lunch date with Relena,' Quatre said, leaning forward a bit to accept a light kiss from the man.

'It's never been a date. She just comes every week and makes a scene until I agree to go out with her,' Heero muttered.

'So what does it matter?' Trowa asked as he took a seat at his desk. 'Or to who does it matter?'

'He told Duo they'd go out to lunch.'

Heero wanted to run out of the room, or maybe go home and put his head in the oven. The one thing he didn't need today was Duo encountering another awkward situation. After this morning Heero was surprised that Duo was even willing to go out to lunch.

'Well, you should give Duo your mace, Heero,' Trowa said, grabbing his coffee cup off his desk before coming over to gaze at the monitors. 'She'll try to scratch his eyes out if she finds out you're going out with him instead of her.'

Heero didn't respond but seriously considered his proposal.

'Speak of the devil. Look who's coming.' Trowa tilted his head towards one of the middle monitors that showed the desk near the security offices.

Heero snapped his head towards the monitor, hoping that Duo decided to come a little bit early. His eyes fell upon a slender, blonde woman yelling at the receptionist at the desk.

'Damn it,' he said to himself. The actual devil.

'She seems really feisty today,' Trowa said, taking a sip of his coffee.

Letting out a sigh, Heero couldn't help but agree and decided not to prolong the inevitable. The more she waited the more she abused the poor receptionist.

'Good luck, Heero.' Heero turned to glare at his two co- workers, both who were giving him a a slight wave followed by a thumbs up.

Rolling his eyes, Heero gripped the door and flung it open, walking out into the certain doom that awaited him.

'What do you think he'll do,' Trowa asked Quatre as he wrapped his arm around the smaller man's waist.

'I don't know,' he replied, letting out a small, but happy, sigh. 'He seems to have to bad.'

A small smirk appeared on Trowa's face as he gave Quatre's waist a small squeeze. 'Then this will certainly be a sight to see.'

Heero stood quietly watching Relena scream at the receptionist.

"Relena," he said, nearly mortified that his voice cracked. She could smell fear, and didn't need his voice to confirm it. Thus, he cleared his throat before continuing. "You're early, it's only 11."

"Oh Heero!" Relena turned away from the receptionist to throw her arms around Heero's neck. A huge look of distaste appeared on Heero's face.

"I know I'm early, but I have a meeting with the L2 board today." She let go of Heero, but stood very close. "Honestly, I don't know why they want me to authorize more money for that hell- bound colony," she said, reaching into her purse and taking out a white pair of gloves. "No amount of money could help that God awful place."

"Well, shall we go?" Heero watched as she put her gloves on.

"Actually, Relena..." Heero was cut off when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his neck. Gasping, he quickly looked over his shoulder and let out a sigh of relief when he saw who it was. "Hey, Duo."

"Hey, pooh bear," Duo said, planting a quick kiss on Heero's cheek. "When can you get away?"

Heero blushed but when he felt Duo's lips on his cheek, but quickly recognized the opportunity to get out of lunch with the Queen of the world.

"Who is this?" Relena asked, seemingly ready to rip the new comers head off.

"Duo Maxwell." Duo reached around Heero to offer his hand to the woman in front of him. Relena lifted her nose as though she smelt something rotten before offering her hand.

"Charmed, I'm sure. And exactly how do you know Heero?"

"Oh." Duo let out a small laugh, putting his hand to his chest. "We're dating!"

All the color drained from Relena's face as her mouth slowly opened. "You're what?" She hissed out.

"Yeah, we just kind of met on a whim!" Heero looked back and forth between his smiling guest and Relena, who was now seemingly barring her fangs.

"So, you've met someone new." Relena was scathing. Heero nearly backed away as the anger in her eyes continued to grow.

"Met someone new?" Duo laughed out, patting Heero on the back. "Oh you naughty boy! I didn't know you were involved with her too. My isn't this awkward!"

Relena's mouth began twitching. "We'll have to speak about this later, Heero. I have a shuttle to catch." Turning on her heels, Relena stomped off.

"It was nice to meet you!" Duo called after her before turning to look at Heero with a knowing smirk.

Heero smiled at Duo with disbelief. "You are amazing."

Duo raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "What can I say? I saw her and then the look on your face. I knew something had to be up."

Heero couldn't help the laugh that came out of his mouth. "I'll be hearing about this forever."

"Oh well," Duo said, locking his arm around Heero's. "Who was that chick anyway? An ex?"

"That was Relena Peacecraft." Duo's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

"As in, the Queen of the world Peacecraft?" Heero nodded.

"Oh my god. I'll go to jail this time for sure." Looking down at the shocked younger man, Heero decided to do something bold and irrational. Wrapping his arm around Duo's back, Heero began leading him back to the security offices.

"I will forever be indebted to you for this."

Duo raised his eyebrow and awkwardly flung his arm over the taller man's shoulder. "As in a favor?"

Heero tilted his head in thought. "Yeah, sure."

"Any favor?"

"I suppose," Heero said skeptically. "Why what did you have in mind?"

Shaken from his thoughts, Duo tilted his head up to look at Heero. "Nothing right now. I'll let you know when I come up with something."

"Should I be afraid?" Heero wasn't even sure if he wanted to know.

Putting his finger to his chin, Duo looked as though he was in deep thought while Heero scanned his finger print. "I don't think so..." He trailed off as he was led through the door.

Heero peered around the corner, thankful that his two co- workers appeared to be somewhere else. After being hassled by Quatre ever since he entered the office, he decided he sure as hell wasn't going to bring Duo in just to be interrogated by them again.

"Do you mind sticking around here for a while?" Heero asked as he sat down in his chair in front of the monitor wall. He leaned forward a bit, continuing to look around the room.

"Do you mean now? Or after lunch?" Duo plopped down on the ledge where Quatre had sat and put his foot on the arm rest of Heero's chair.

Heero lifted his arm and dropped it on Duo's leg, giving his foot a squeeze. "Both, if you're interested. Did you get your flight, by the way?"

Duo scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. "No. I waited for like 3 hours in line too. Thankfully today I didn't have an empty stomach," he said with a firm nod. "So what's with you and the Queen of the World? Were you an item or something?"

Duo carefully examined Heero's face as he asked his question. Though he wasn't exactly sure how, sometime in the past two days Duo had made up his mind that Heero was his type of guy. There was simply something about Heero that felt inviting, warm, and made Duo feel like he belonged. Like he was safe. And it was that feeling that made him Duo's mission.

There was no mistaking the distinct shiver that ran up Heero's spine at the mention of the Queen. "Oh God, no," he managed as he adjusted himself in his chair. "I was shot near the end of the war and they took me to a Sanc hospital. She's been bothering me ever since."

Raising his eyebrow, Duo straightened his leg out, slowly spinning Heero's chair. There were a lot of things Duo had learned living on the streets of L2 and New York, but the one thing he prided himself most on was his ability to read people. And right now he was definitely reading bullshit.

Heero tried to avoid eye contact with Duo but he was unfortunately very aware of the look of complete skepticism and disbelief that graced his face.

"I took a bullet for her," he mumbled out.

A bright smile appeared on Duo's face and he firmly pushed the chair, spinning Heero 360 degrees. "Wow, so you're a war hero, Heero."

"I'm hardly a war hero, Duo." Heero spun his himself to turn away from Duo and leaned back in the chair.

"Oh come on," Duo responded, leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Heero's neck. "You saved the Queen of the World."

"Unfortunately," Heero muttered, only to be smacked on the back of the head.

Duo couldn't contain his snicker and pulled on Heero's shoulders, rolling him closer to him.

'I wonder why there's something so attractive about a modest guy,' Duo thought to himself with a smile.

Heero looked down at the arm around his neck and a questioning look appeared on his face. Breaking the hold Duo had one his neck, Heero spinned himself around to look at the younger man sitting behind him.

"Are you wearing my clothes?" Heero put his arms around Duo's waist and held him an arms length away to give him the up and the down.

Duo let out a little laugh, putting his arm behind his head. "Yeah, I didn't really have anything clean to wear," he said with a chuckle. "I hope it's okay."

Heero shook his head. "No, of course it's okay," he said softly, subconsciously pulling Duo a little closer to himself. "Duo," he started, feeling a bit nauseous all of the sudden. "I feel like I should tell you something..."

Both men jumped when the security office door was slammed open, interrupting Heero. Quickly pushing Duo away, Heero spun himself towards the door, crossing his legs, trying to look professional.

"I swear to God, Trowa! I saw them come in here now let me go!" Quatre came stumbling into the room, with Trowa hot on his heels. It was obvious that the two had been involved in some sort of struggle.

"Duo!" Quatre said brightly with a smile, nearly pushing Trowa out of the way to get to the American. "I knew I saw you!" He shot a glare towards Trowa after that comment, making the other man turn away with a snort. "Are you joining us for lunch?"

Heero's ears perked up. "Who is us?"

"Surely you didn't think Quatre would leave the two of you alone?" Trowa mumbled out as he leaned against the edge of his desk, crossing his arms over his chest. "He's just realized this is the artist Duo Maxwell."

Both Heero and Duo turned to Quatre, who was now glaring daggers at his boyfriend from across the room. Duo couldn't help but smile to himself as the blonde continued to turn one shade of pink darker with each passing second.

Quatre let out a nervous laugh and slowly made him way over to Trowa's desk. Standing next to him, he laid his hand on his lover's shoulder and squeezed hard enough for a distinct cracking sound to be heard.

"Don't mind him," he laughed out, beginning to clench and unclench his grip on Trowa's shoulder.

Duo laughed and sat down on the arm of Heero's desk chair. "You don't have to be embarrassed."

"I'm sorry," Quatre chuckled. "I just felt like such an idiot that I didn't realize you were the artist this morning. Trowa and I actually have one of your paintings in our apartment."

"You do?" Heero questioned.

Quatre nodded and waved him off. "Yeah that one across from the kitchen. Of the birds."

"Oh," he responded quietly. He had seen that picture probably a thousand times. It showed three white birds flying over the skyline of a war torn city. There was something obscenely beautiful about that painting yet it had pained Heero to look at it.

Heero tuned out of the conversation between Duo and Quatre, losing himself to his own thoughts. That painting. He wondered briefly if Duo's signature was legible on the painting. If it was, Heero thought to himself, I could have found him years ago.

"Is that okay with you Heero?" Heero snapped his head up towards Quatre.

"Is what okay?"

"Staying at the airport for lunch." Quatre let out a sigh at the confused look on his co- worker's face. "More choices? Quicker? I mean Duo's waiting for you until you get off work anyway."

Heero blinked a few times, and shook his head, trying to get rid of the other thoughts he had in his head. "Yeah, that's fine."

'Is he wearing your clothes?' Trowa asked, after giving Duo the up and the down. Quatre's head automatically snapped from his lover to Duo. A large grin appeared on his face and he aimed his smirk towards Heero.

"Huh?" Duo slouched down a bit and stared down at Heero, who was glaring at Trowa. Raising his gaze upward to the other two smug men across the room, Duo couldn't help but feel a little left out by the language barrier. But from what he could figure out, Heero's glare said "I'll kill you," and the other two's smirks said, "check mate."

------

"God my key has never done that before!" Heero declared, stumbling into his apartment with Duo hot on his heels. "It must have expanded in my pocket or something."

"Heero be careful!" Duo exclaimed, reaching forward and grabbing Heero around the waist, trying to keep him steady. "You've definitely had too much to drink."

"I have not!" Heero tried to defend his sobriety by pushing Duo's arms away from him, attempting to stand on his own wobbly two feet. He reached out towards the wall as soon as he was free, but miscalculated the true distance and nearly tumbled to floor before Duo ran forward and grabbed him.

"Heero, I think it's time to lay down now," Duo laughed out, struggling to support the larger man and direct him to the bathroom.

Heero started struggling. "No! Duo I told you I have to tell you something!" He began flailing his arms, trying to get free again.

"Heero come on, you've got to lay down," Duo managed to get out, as he kept moving the pair closer to Heero's bedroom.

When the pair got to the beginning of the hallway Heero stopped and went completely stiff.

"Heero?" Duo asked, looking down at the man in his arms. "Are you okay?"

Heero started turning a distinct green color and Duo started to get nervous. "Heero?" He whimpered out before Heero pushed away from him and made a beeline for the bathroom.

Flinging the door open Heero made it to the bath tub before emptying the contents of his stomach.

Duo leaned his head into the bathroom, wearing a worried expression. "You okay?"

Duo walked over to the tub where Heero was vomiting and sat on the edge of it, placing his hand on his host's back.

After Heero and his friends got off work Quatre had suggested they go to some night club near the airport. The night had seemed to be going well but both Quatre and Trowa kept saying things in Japanese to Heero, which seemed to make Heero keep ordering drinks.

By the end of the evening Duo could tell Heero was wasted, and thus decided to leave Heero's car in the parking garage and take a cab back to his apartment.

"You all done?" Duo asked, continuing to rub Heero's back.

Heero turned himself around, leaning against the wall of the tub. "I think so," he responded, accepting the small cup of water Duo gave him.

"You should really get some sleep, Heero," Duo said quietly, running his hand across Heero's forehead. "Come on." Duo reached down, grabbing Heero's hands and began pulling him to his feet.

Duo led him to his bedroom and threw him down on the bed. "There, now doesn't that feel better?" Duo laughed as Heero let out a long moan and reached for his pillow, holding it close to his body.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Duo reached down and began pulling off Heero's shoes. "There," he said, moving the older mans legs onto the bed. "Goodnight, Heero."

Alarm bells started going off when Heero heard goodnight. "Wait!" He called, grabbing Duo's wrist and pulling him down onto the bed next to him. "I have to tell you something."

Duo blinked with a little smile. "What?"

Heero took a large breath of air and prepared to tell Duo what he had wanted to tell him every since he realized who he was. "Duo, I know you."

Letting out a little chuckle, Duo patted Heero on the head and began sitting up. "I know you too, Heero. Now get some sleep."

Heero tightened his grip on Duo's wrist, yanking him close and wrapping his arms around the younger man's waist. "No, Duo. I know you. I've always known you," he mumbled and put his head in the crook between Duo's neck and shoulder.

"Is that so?" Duo asked, trying to dislocate himself from the human vice. "God you're really strong, Heero."

"Why don't you get it?" Heero mumbled to himself, throwing his leg over Duo's. He was becoming increasingly frustrated. Why didn't Duo understand what he was trying to tell him?

"Come on, Heero. Just go to sleep." Duo started to pry Heero's hands off him only to be pulled closer.

"No. You stay with Heero." Came the mumble from his chest. "Heero wont leave you again."

Duo smiled looking down at the man whose face had turned a nice pink color. "Okay, Heero," he said, snuggling down next to Heero. "Duo wont leave you either."


	5. Chapter 5

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

A.N. I'm not sure how many days I want to keep Duo in Japan. I think maybe two more?

Chapter 5

Heero woke up with a searing pain in his head that made him temples throb. There was only one other time Heero felt a pain like this, and it was when he woke up in the hospital after the war. But, seeing as how the war was over, he knew this could only mean one thing. Alcohol. And lots of it.

Moaning to himself, Heero was painfully reminded as to why he didn't drink. He reached up with his left hand and ran it over his face, letting out a long sigh. His system wasn't very tolerant to alcohol, which is why he usually didn't drink. In fact, the only time Heero drank was when he was incredibly depressed, or unbelievably stressed out.

I must have been out of my mind, he thought to himself as he rolled over and snuggled further down into his bed, having decided to sleep his hang over away.

Heero's eyes shot open as he heard the moan that came from the bundle of covers next to him.

"Is it morning?" Came a low mumble. Heero went stiff when he felt arms wrap around his waist and a body press against his back.

"Oh my God," he said to himself, turning his head towards the other side of the bed. He silently prayed that when he saw who ever was next to him, they'd be clothed.

Flipping himself over Heero found himself face to face with a very sleepy looking Duo. 'Thank God,' he mumbled before scolding himself for such a thought. It wasn't everyday Heero could look over at the person he was in bed with and say, "thank God it's just the 18 year old boy whose been living in my apartment."

Heero grabbed Duo's wrist and lightly moved it from his waist to the space he had made between them. Duo let out a chuckle and quickly moved closer, wrapping both arms around Heero's chest and tangling their legs together. "Don't tell me you just got shy all the sudden," he laughed out.

Biting his bottom lip, Heero looked to the sky and wondered why God was doing this to him. He was a grown man, in bed with an 18 year old, and even though that was exactly where he had wanted to be for the past two days, now that it had happened an extreme feeling of guilt washed over him.

"Not so much shy as..." he trailed off. "Wise." Heero awkwardly gave Duo's head two pats, unsure of where it was appropriate to place his hands in such a situation.

"Um, Duo," Heero began. "We didn't, um, do anything, did we?" He finally got out, his face beat red.

Duo laughed into Heero's chest, and raised his head to look at the older man. "Don't give yourself a coronary, Heero." Duo leaned back to get a better look at Heero, laughing when he saw the relieved look on his face. "You were a complete gentleman to me. But poor Jack wasn't so lucky."

Heero felt his heart beat a fraction faster than usual. "Who is Jack?" His voice cracked as he asked the question. He watched as Duo leaned over the side of the bed, searching for something on the floor.

Duo reappeared a moment later with a nearly empty bottle. "Mr. Jack Daniels," he said with a smirk. "I thought you were done after we got home, but then you started screaming something in Japanese and raided all your cabinets." Duo appeared to be in deep thought. "You might not want to look in your kitchen for a while."

Heero sat up and put his head in his hands, utterly mortified at what he was hearing.

"Honestly, Heero I never thought that's how you'd act when you got drunk. I would have expected you to act the exact same as normal."

"I'm so sorry, Duo. This isn't like me at all, I swear." Duo laughed and leaned back across Heero's thighs so he could look at his face.

"I could have figured that out," he said before re- thinking his position. "Is it safe to lay here?" He asked, looking up at Heero, trying to detect any signs of vomiting.

Chuckling, Heero nodded and couldn't help but smile down at the younger man. "Yeah, I think so."

Duo wasn't able to contain his happiness. Last night had been truly eye opening for him. For his entire life he was never truly sure about something that he wanted, but last night made one thing completely crystal in his mind.

"I love you," he said softly, still wearing his smile.

Heero's eyes may have popped out of his skull. "You what?" He asked, his mouth slightly open.

"I love you," Duo repeated, this time with a bit of a laugh before reaching up and pulling Heero's head closer to his, planting a kiss lightly on his lips.

Lightly adding pressure as he began sitting up, Duo found himself sitting on his knees with his arms resting around Heero's neck. Heero's eyes remained half open as he lightly kissed the younger man back.

What am I doing? he thought to himself. This is wrong. Taking a deep breath, Heero pulled away from Duo, who gazed at him with extreme happiness twinkling in his eyes.

"Duo," he started, not really believing he was about to say this. "You've only known me for two days."

Duo slightly nodded his head, looking down at the bed spread. "Okay," he mumbled, his smile disappearing.

"No, Duo, don't take it that way," Heero pleaded, putting his hand under Duo's chin, forcing him to make eye contact. "You're just too young to make this kind of decision based on two days." Duo nodded, silently. "And lets face it," Heero mumbled unhappily. "I'm almost old enough to be your father."

"You don't remember what you told me last night?" Duo said lightly, turning his head away from Heero.

Heero's eyes suddenly became very wide with concern. "I told you?' He said, disbelief laced into his voice. He put his head in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. "I can't believe I told you when I was drunk. I'm so sorry. I really didn't want you find out this way." Heero realized as soon as those words left his mouth that he truly meant them. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you at dinner."

Duo looked over his shoulder at Heero. "It's not that big of a deal, Heero," he said, turning his body to pat Heero on the back. "I just thought that you really wanted me to stay."

"You thought what?" Heero questioned, his forehead lightly creased from his look of confusion.

Raising his eyebrow, Duo turned himself completely around. "You said you wanted me to stay with you."

All the sudden Duo felt like his ribs were about to break as he was viciously pulled into a bone crushing hug. "You know you're sending me some awfully bad mixed signals here," Duo managed to get out.

Letting go of Duo, Heero grabbed the younger man's shoulders and lightly shook him, forcing Duo to look him dead in the eye. "Is that all I told you?" His question hung heavy in the air as Duo stared at Heero with confusion.

"Yeah," Duo responded, now looking a bit concerned. "What did you think it was?" He asked with a skeptical glance, but Heero was too busy letting out a sigh of relief to listen to the question.

"Duo, I want you to listen to me." Heero positioned himself directly across from Duo, holding his guest's hands in his lap. "I did mean what I said last night. You are very dear to me, and I'd love for you to stay with me," Duo began to regain his smile. "But," and just as quickly it began to fade. "You are very young, and I believe too young to make this kind of decision based on two days."

Duo took back his hands from Heero's lap and ran them through his hair. Getting off the bed, he began to pace in front of Heero, not sure if he should leave, or continue to speak. "You know," he said, standing in front of Heero. "There's only one other time that I've felt like I belonged somewhere, and that was with Odin. In my entire life, Heero!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "Last night was the only other time in my eighteen years of living that I felt like I belonged somewhere. That's what I'm basing this on, not two days."

Heero watched wide eyed as Duo began walking out of the room. Throwing his feet over the side of the bed, Heero ran after Duo, catching his arm in the doorway. "Duo, wait."

Letting out a sigh, Duo turned to face Heero while rolling his eyes. "What? Going to throw me some more mixed signals?"

Heero nearly winced at the sarcasm that dripped off Duo's words. "Duo," he began, making his voice as firm as possible. "I don't want you to ever feel unwelcome here." Heero stared deep into Duo's eyes, searching for anything that could confirm or deny Duo's acceptance of his words.

"Dammit," Duo finally breathed out, lightly punching Heero in the arm. "Why did you have to say something like that."

Giving Duo a warm look, Heero took a step closer to Duo, reaching for one of the younger man's hands. "Something like what?" He questioned, raising the smaller hand to his lips.

Duo couldn't help but laugh at the action and ripped his hand away. "Something so," Duo began, obviously searching for the right word.

"Daring?" Heero tried, making Duo laugh in the process.

"No, just something so..."

"Dashing?" He asked, leaning against the open door way, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Perfect," Duo finally responded, smiling brightly. "Something so perfect."

Heero gave Duo a small smile before looking up towards the ceiling. "I do mean it. No matter what you decide to do, you'll always have a place here."

"Thank you, Heero." Duo smiled and ran his hand down Heero's chest. "But I meant it to. Father or not, I love you."

Throwing a wink in Heero's direction, Duo once again turned on his heels and headed out into the living room. Heero looked after Duo with a slight smile, wondering how bad it would look if he did pursue a romantic relationship with the eighteen year old.

-----

'Are you kidding? It would look terrible!' Wufei exclaimed, slamming his hand down on his kitchen counter, resisting the urge to smack Heero upside the head. 'Do you want Une to think you're robbing the cradle?!'

Heero sighed and turned towards Wufei from the sink, where he had been washing his hands. 'It's not that bad, Wufei. I mean, sometimes he doesn't even look like he's eighteen,' he said sourly, drying his hands with a piece of paper towel.

Wufei leaned far to the side, looking out to the living room while holding onto the counter for leverage.

On mondays Heero worked the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift so he decided it would be a good day to stroll down the hall to see Wufei and the new baby. Currently, Duo was sitting in the living room with Sally, holding the little new born, while Heero and Wufei were in the kitchen whipping something up for lunch.

'You're right,' Wufei finally replied. 'Right now he looks like he's only about 16.'

Quickly running over, Heero joined Wufei in leaning to look into the living room. 'He does not!' Heero whispered, lightly smacking Wufei on the back of his head. 'I'm being serious, Wufei. I think I might ask him to stay with me for good.'

Wufei sighed, running his hand over his face. While he wanted to be supportive of his friend, the whole thing seemed too surreal. Granted, he had seen the effect that leaving the boy in the alley had on Heero, and he did seem a lot happier the past few days, but the whole situation was too sketchy.

'Heero, please think about what you're saying,' Wufei begged out as he began looking through the refrigerator for more vegetables.

'I have, Wufei,' Heero said sternly, leaning back against the counter. 'He's been plaguing me since I was eighteen years old. What are the odds that he'd randomly come strolling back into my life?'

'I will admit you have a point,' Wufei growled out, harshly chopping a tomato. 'But the difference in age really doesn't bother you?' He stopped his chopping to give Heero and incredulous look.

Heero shook his head, making Wufei scowl. 'It's about feelings, not age.'

'Right,' Wufei scoffed. 'Well, the next time those feelings start to churn,' he said as he began throwing the salad ingredients into four bowls, which he then stacked one on top of the other with a loud clanking. 'Make you sure remember that you might as well be screwing that little kid on L2.' And with that he stomped out into the living room, leaving Heero wide eyed and open mouthed.

That can't be true, he thought to himself, following Wufei out into the living room with numerous bottles of salad dressings. He's eighteen, not a kid.

Heero couldn't help but smile when he saw Duo sitting on the sofa, holding the little baby close to his chest. Duo looked up when he heard Heero enter the room and flashed him a radiant smile. "Isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Came the happy exclamation.

Nodding, Heero set the salad dressings on the dining room table before returning to the living room. He sat on his knees in front of Duo, lightly running his hand down the little baby's face. "She is adorable, Wufei," he said with a smile. "You both must be very proud."

The blonde woman sitting next to Duo smiled proudly. "We are very proud," she said, brushing the soft, thin, hairs on the baby's head.

"You should be!" Duo exclaimed, shifting the baby carefully in his arms. The baby gurgled before letting out a long yawn. "Aw, LeFong! You must be a little sleepy baby aren't you?" He chirped, leaning his face closer to the baby.

Sally laughed and reached over to take the baby from her guest. "Yeah, I think she's about ready for a nap," she said, holding the baby girl close to her chest as she walked out of the living room, leaving the three men to talk.

Duo sat awkwardly, shifting his weight from side to side as he began drumming his fingers against each other. Usually when he met new people he was very conversational, but for some reason he had a strange sense to stay very quiet and still. That's always what he imagined very people did when they had company. Not to mention the fact that he was utterly mortified that he may say something that the Chinese man found stupid.

Heero almost laughed at the expression on Duo's face. He was obviously terrified of Wufei and had thus decided that sitting quietly and avoiding eye contact was the best method to partake in.

"You really do have a beautiful daughter," Duo stated, almost hesitantly. He wasn't sure what to talk to talk about, but figured anything would be better than sitting in the awkward silence.

Wufei leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest, staring at Duo, scrutinizing everything he was doing. "Thank you," he said shortly. "So, I hear you're an artist."

Duo nodded, showing a little smile. "Yes, that's right!"

Snorting, Wufei turned to Heero, who was now standing up to take a seat next to Duo on the couch.

'Heero did you read the article in the newspaper a few weeks ago about people who take jobs in the arts because they're afraid to grow up and take on a steady job?'

Heero stood frozen in mid- sit and Duo looked over in confusion at Wufei, who in turn, smiled at him. "I bet your work is lovely."

Duo smiled awkwardly as Heero sat next to him. He shot Wufei a death glance and put his arm around Duo. 'You could at least pretend not to be so condescending,' he growled out at the smirking man. 'You know he's special to me.'

Sally came in, wearing a bright smile. "Sweet little baby, isn't she?"

"She really is!" Duo exclaimed, hoping the nice woman wouldn't leave the room again. "I've never seen such a cute baby before."

"Thank you!" She was nearly beaming. "Well, shall we eat?"

Wufei nodded and stood from his chair, the other two men following suit. They all congregated around the kitchen table, Wufei and Sally sitting next to each other on one side, across from Heero and Duo.

Duo nervously stabbed a lettuce leaf with one of his chop sticks. He swore that he could have cut the tension in the room with a knife if he had been so inclined. Heero and Wufei had been locked in some sort of side conversation that they had going in Japanese, and unfortunately Duo had a very bad feeling that it was about him. The only person who seemed to be oblivious was Sally.

"Honestly Wufei, I don't know why you're being such a sour puss today," she said, smacking his arm a little harder than necessary.

'I agree, why are you being such a dick today, Wufei?' Heero replied sourly, glaring at a smug looking Wufei.

"So, Duo," Wufei began between bites. "How long will you be in Japan?" He questioned with a smile.

"I actually haven't gotten a solid flight yet," he shrunk down in his chair. Everything Wufei asked him he did with a smile. But not the genuine kind of smile. The kind of smile that said Duo was in the middle of a joke that he was completely unaware of because of a language barrier. "I'm planning to book one today."

"Oh, that's too bad," Sally said, dabbing her face with her napkin. "Well you should come see the baby once more before you leave, at least."

"Oh I will! Don't worry about that," he smiled brightly.

"You know, Duo," Wufei started. "I bet I could get you a flight out tomorrow if you wanted. If I recall Japan Air started switching their flights to American Airlines."

Wufei was cut off when Heero harshly set his chop sticks back onto the table, calmly folding his hands. 'If you say one more word, I will gouge your eye out with my chop stick. Understand?' He tried to keep his voice calm so Duo wouldn't get too suspicious, even if he probably already was.

'Boys!' Sally screamed, slamming her hand down, making everyone jump. 'We have company.' She finished calmly, taking another small bite of her salad.

------

"Your friend hates me," Duo groaned out, flopping face down on Heero's bed. After lunch the two had dismissed themselves fairly quickly. Heero had turned red in the face, which Duo was fairly sure was from anger, and Wufei was being repetitively smacked by Sally, so the two decided it was better to leave sooner rather than later.

"He doesn't hate you," Heero sighed out from his position in the doorway. Wufei had always teased him, but usually he could handle it a lot better. "He likes to tease me. And our age difference is the current reason of his jovial mood."

Duo shot Heero an ugly glance over his shoulder. "You're friends seem pretty shallow minded."

Heero laughed and walked towards Duo, sitting on the bed next to him. "If you remember I was too this morning," he reminded Duo as he began playing with his fingers. "I'm sorry by the way," he mumbled.

Duo flipped himself over and began staring at Heero with a little smile. "Does that mean you take back what you said this morning?"

Laughing, Heero grabbed Duo around the waist and sent them both tumbling to the bed. "I still think you have a life to live, Duo," he laughed at the sour look that appeared on Duo's face. "But if you want to spend it here that'd be okay with me."

"Really?"

Heero nodded. "We can just tell people you're my nephew when we go out."

"We can really freak people out then," Duo replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Heero started to laugh nervously and pushed Duo away from himself. "You're really creepy, did you know that?" he asked as Duo rolled himself off the bed.

"Sure," came the muffled reply.

"What are you doing down there?" Heero peered over the edge of his bed to see Duo's butt sticking up in the air and his top half searching for something under the bed.

"I threw all my stuff down here," he said, straining as he pulled out a light blue jacket. "Does this smell too bad?" Duo held out the jacket to Heero, who hesitantly took it.

It was the jacket he had given Duo in the alley. He'd recognize it anywhere. Obviously it was too small for him now, but the worn jacket had been the only thing he had worn continually in the war.

"Are you okay?" Duo asked, breaking him from his thoughts. He lightly shook his head, and held the jacket to his nose.

"It doesn't smell bad," he said softly, setting the jacket aside.

Grabbing it from off the bed, Duo jumped up with a happy cry. "Good! I'm pretty sure the rest of my clothes are though," he hinted with a wink.

Chuckling, Heero just smiled and nodded. "You can wear whatever you want of mine."

"Excellent!" Duo planted a kiss on the side of Heero's head and began prancing towards his bathroom. "Can I take a shower please?" He asked before setting a toe on the tile.

Heero smirked. "I should be asking you to please take a shower."

The jacket was viciously launched across the room making Heero laugh as it came into contact with his face. He looked up just as the bathroom door was closing and looked down at the jacket he held in his hands with a faint smile.

"I never thought I'd see you again," he said quietly to his old jacket.

Memories of that night came flooding back to him as he ran his fingers over the worn denim. Duo deserved to know. Heero laid the jacket across his knees and put his head in his hands. He was getting in too deep. The longer everything went on the worse it would get.

"You are such a bad person," he mumbled to himself. "What am I going to do."

Heero threw himself back on the bed, staring at the ceiling through worried eyes. When he heard the shower start he nearly whimpered, and curled up into a ball, letting the repetitious sound lull him to sleep.

Nearly an hour later, Duo stumbled out of the bathroom holding a towel around his waist.

"Hey Heero, I forgot to grab some..." He began, but stopped when he saw the older man curled up on the bed. "Aw," he whispered, tip toeing closer towards the bed.

Duo laid himself down so he was facing Heero. There was something so welcoming in Heero's presence. It was nearly like an addiction, something Duo found himself craving whenever he saw the older man. For whatever reason "home" seemed to radiate from him.

Smiling, Duo took his index finger and began running it down the bridge of Heero's nose. He tried to contain his laughter at the look of discomfort that appeared on Heero's face with each passing stroke.

Unbeknownst to Duo, Heero had been awake during the duration of the nose stroking. With any other person he would have automatically sat up and punched them in the face, but with Duo it was comforting, in some strange way, even if he was trying to be bothersome.

At the next stroke Heero's arm shot up from his side and grabbed Duo's wrist, causing a large gasp to come from the younger man. "You shouldn't disturb a sleeping soldier," he said smugly, releasing the wrist.

Duo laughed and swatted Heero on the head. "Give me a heart attack will you?!" He exclaimed.

"I wish I could. That would mean you're as old as I am." Heero sat up and began running his fingers through his bed head. Unfortunately, as long as he could remember his hair had been more untamable than the most dangerous jungle cats. In fact, there had even been instances of brushes breaking off in his hair.

"You aren't that old, Heero," Duo replied, laying back so his head rested in Heero's lap.

"I'm not that young either," Heero mumbled, running his hand over Duo's wet hair before realizing one key detail about the younger man. "You're naked," he stated with blush, pushing Duo off him and putting his head in his hands.

You are such a dirty old man, he thought miserably to himself.

"I'm not totally naked," Duo stated. "I've got a towel on."

Grabbing one of the pillows from the top of the bed, Heero put his face in it. He figured it was better not to tempt himself by not looking at Duo, and he might be able to suffocate himself, which was an added bonus.

"Duo what time is it?" came the muffled voice.

Duo leaned over Heero, pressing his bare stomach against his back. "About five, why?" He asked, pushing himself back over to sit with his back pressed against the wall.

Rolling himself further into his pillow, Heero moaned. "We have three and a half hours to kill."

"Oh?" Duo asked, coyly. "What do you want to do?" He breathed into Heero's ear, moving so he once again pressed the front of his body against Heero.

"Please don't do that," Heero spoke through his pillow, attempting to shrug Duo off him.

Noticing the attempt, Duo plastered his drying body against Heero's back, moving his arms to wrap around his waist. "Do what?" He asked innocently, running his finger up and down Heero's stomach.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer," came the muffled reply, causing a loud chuckle to erupt from Duo.

"Well," Duo began, walking his fingers up and down Heero's side. "Then you can't be too upset," he pondered to himself and began nibbling on the older man's ear.

"Duo," came the warning tone.

"Oh, fine!" Duo exclaimed, jumping up from the bed. "You have been such a spoilsport today, you know that?"

"I have not..." Throwing the pillow off himself, Heero was greeted with the sight of Duo ripping off his towel. "Oh my God," he mumbled, trying to tear his eyes away from the younger man.

"You have so," Duo responded testily as he began rustling through Heero's drawers. "Can I wear this?" He turned around and waved a pair of dark green pants in front of Heero, who was trying to avert his eyes.

"Yeah," he said quietly, putting his hand close to his eyes. "You can wear whatever you want."

Duo looked at Heero, who was so obviously uncomfortable. In a way, Duo found the blush gracing his cheeks incredibly cute, but his sex drive found it incredibly frustrating.

"Oh I can?" He asked suggestively, putting his finger up to his mouth in thought. "I guess I better dry off first."

And with that he swan dived back onto Heero's bed, laying with his feet straight down and pinned together, his arms in a similar fashion. He laid on his back like this for a while before he began rolling around on the bed, effectively drying himself off.

Heero found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the younger man. He kept trying to tell himself he was ashamed, but apparently that shame was not enough to stop him from imagining...

Reaching his hands up and covering his face, Heero whimpered and once again laid back down, replacing his hands for his pillow.

Duo snickered at the response he had invoked from the older man. "That's much better!" He exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and grabbed the pair of pants and began to put them on.

"So what do you want to do?" Duo asked, plopping himself back down on the bed. "Since we obviously don't want to do the same thing."

"I need to take a shower," Heero mumbled, sitting up and making a beeline for the bathroom.

Duo stared after him, but looked away when he heard the sound of the door shutting. He laid down on Heero's bed, closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Well, I guess he doesn't really like you as much as you thought," he mumbled to himself, letting himself be lulled asleep by a repetitive banging sound coming from the bathroom. Little did he know, it was Heero slamming his head against the medicine cabinet.

-----

I know this isn't the whole day, but I've been kind of busy lately. And I'll be heading on vacation in a week, the end of the day will be posted in the next chapter. Happy reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

A.N. Oh ! It's been a long time since an update on this fic! I'm sorry, I get the bug to work on something else then I get the bug to work on this! Unfortunately, now I've got the bug on SCHOOL work and a new job ! I'm sorry I WILL work on this as much as I possibly can!

Chapter 6

Heero sipped his coffee as he watched the wall of monitors. It was nearly four a.m., and the air port had almost completely emptied out, leaving a slightly ominous feeling in the air.

Looking down at his watch, Heero let out a happy sigh. Only an hour and three minutes until he could go home.

'You look happy,' Wufei mumbled next to Heero. He had his arms folded across his chest and wore a tired scowl. He hated the nine p.m. to five a.m. shift, but couldn't pick and choose his shifts since he had taken last week off. In the end he figured, what the hell, with the new baby he didn't get any sleep as it was, he needed the money, and if he wasn't getting any sleep it wouldn't really matter if he had to stay up all night. The only difference was that it'd be at work instead of at home, and at least it was quiet at work, even if the reason was tension.

Heero shot a glare out of the corner of his eye. 'I'm still not talking to you,' he spat out, refusing to make eye contact with the traitor sitting next to him.

'Still mad?' Wufei asked nonchalantly, shifting a bit in his chair.

'Is Duo still scheduled to leave tomorrow at four?' Heero replied, trying to remain calm and collected.

'Yes,' Wufei mumbled, beginning to rub his temples.

'Then I hate you.' Heero responded, as though it was such common knowledge that it was utterly moronic to think otherwise.

Wufei sighed, resting his feet on the ledge under the monitors. 'This is for your own good.

Slamming down his coffee mug on the ledge, splattering Wufei's shoes with little droplets of coffee, Heero spun himself towards Wufei and pointed a long finger in his face.

'That is not for you to decide! You should have minded your own business!' He yelled, ripping his security jacket off the back of his chair and storming towards the door. As he flung the door open he paused, and turned back to give one last scathing glare at Wufei. 'And if I want to date an eighteen year old I will!' He yelled, walking out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Wufei sighed as the monitors picture shook for a moment from the intensity of the sound. He had only given Duo the voucher for Heero's own good. It wouldn't do him any good to be hung up on a lanky American teen when he was thirty.

Teenagers are always changing their minds about love, Wufei reminded himself, twirling a pencil through his fingers. 'You did the right thing,' he mumbled, honestly trying to convince himself it was true.

Viciously shoving his arms into his sleeves, Heero stalked down the halls and ended up in front of the Japan Air ticket counter. He shot death glares at the sleepy employees, blaming them for this entire situation. If they hadn't brought Duo from America and then went on strike, none of this would have happened, and Heero wouldn't have found himself pining over the eighteen year old living in his apartment.

'Goddamn-it,' he mumbled, kicking one of the brick pillars separating the different ticket counters. 'Where the hell is that kid anyway?' He asked himself, scanning the room for any traces of the teen.

Heero walked down the halls, seemingly on patrol, continuing to search for the teen in question. Something Heero had always prided himself on was his ability to generally be able to remain calm and level headed in even the most high stress situations. But for whatever reason, when Duo was added into the mix he felt as though he was drowning in the middle of the ocean, with nothing to hold his head above water.

He looked down at his watch. Four twenty- five. 'Only thirty-five more minutes,' he assured himself, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to steady himself.

Today had probably been one of the worst days of his life. Not only had he come to work cold and horny, apparently cold showers didn't work as well for Heero as other people claimed, when he arrived to find that Wufei had managed to find the only way to make Heero feel as though his heart had been ripped from his chest, stomped on, and fed to twenty rabid dogs.

Duo hadn't faired much better. After many hours of thoughtful consideration, he had planned to "accidently" forget to ask about flights, which would buy him at least one more day of Heero's company. He figured one more day would be enough to convince Heero that he couldn't live his life without his guest in his company. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when Wufei had handed him a ticket voucher that he needed to exchange for a flight back to California. The very next day.

He had promptly left the office, clutching the voucher in his hand, barely believing his luck. He was so upset he barely heard the yelling coming from the offices as he walked towards the ticket counters.

Duo stood in line staring at the voucher, trying to think of any excuse to get rid of it. He could claim it had been stolen, and then get rid of the voucher. He sighed, this probably wouldn't be one of those no voucher no questions situations. Duo couldn't help but chuckle to himself, even if he did go through with his plan he'd have to destroy the evidence. This thought made him start to wonder how bad eating paper really was for you.

When he finally got his ticket and boarding pass for the next day, Duo stared down at them in utter disbelief. He was officially leaving. Some people are happy when they finally find their way home, but for Duo it felt as though it had taken eighteen years to find his real home and now that he had found it he was hopping a plane to go halfway across the world. Halfway across the world from Heero. From home.

He sighed and crumpled the papers in his hand before shoving them into his pockets.

"I need a fucking cigarette," he mumbled to himself.

And so while Heero ignored Wufei for most of the work shift, Duo searched all over the airport for an open store available to sell him some much needed nicotine.

'Goddamn-it," Heero mumbled, having seemingly searched every corner of the airport for Duo only to come up with nothing.

Plopping himself down in one of the seating areas, Heero put his face in his hands. 'You still have ten more minutes,' he assured himself. By that time he could find Duo and wouldn't have to be stuck in that airport for a moment longer than he had to be. Ten minutes would be definitely be enough...

Heero was torn from his self assurance as he heard multiple foot steps nearing him. He looked up just as a young family walked past him. the parents obviously tired and trying to control their excited four year old. 'Did you see him?! That was so cool! I want to live with the bags too! Can I mom?! Can I please?!' he nearly yelled, his voice full of wonder and excitement.

'Yes, darling,' the mother muttered in mid yawn, raising one hand to cover her mouth as she took hold of her child's hand with the other. Heero smirked watching the child bound down the hallway, dragging his mother with him and only stopping when they made it to the door.

There was no other person that little kid could have been talking about. Letting out a great sigh of relief, Heero placed both his palms against his chair and gave a firm push, elevating him to a standing position. He raised both hands over his head, his face grimacing with the stretch, as he began walking towards baggage claim, a large smile appearing on his face and growing with each step towards the stair well.

When he finally made it down the stairs and through a series of hallways, he was not disappointed.

"Duo this is such a huge break in protocol," Heero smirked, leaning against one of the pillars in front of the Japan air baggage claim.

Duo's head snapped towards Heero, a feral grin growing on his lips. He was sitting on the top layer of the baggage claim, his legs crossed indian style. After he had smoked nearly an entire pack of cigarettes, Duo decided he needed a place to think. After roaming around for nearly a half hour, he had decided at around 4: 40 that he needed something to get his mind revolving.

"It is?" He asked, turning his head to keep looking at Heero as the baggage conveyor belt slowly spun.

Heero nodded, the smirk still gracing his face.

"Why? No one's here," Duo said with a smile, leaning back against the metal so his hair slightly spilled over the ledge.

"No, but I'm head of security."

"So?"

Heero let out a little sigh, but couldn't help the smirk that kept tugging against his lips. "Please, just come down from there."

Duo glared down at Heero for a few moments, thinking hard about whether to abide by this fun wrecker or not. Heero tilted his head a bit to the side, making his eyes look as sad as possible.

"Oh, fine," Duo finally responded, jumping down from the conveyor belt. "But you really are being a sour puss today."

Heero smiled as he walked up to Duo, slinging his arm around his shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said with a smile, giving Duo a little squeeze.

"Yeah right," Duo mumbled, grabbing Heero's hand and holding it against his chest. "So, is it time to go home?"

Heero's smile grew a fraction larger, pulling Duo even closer to himself so that the younger man was nearly plastered to his side. "Yes it is," he said happily, leading the two back to the security office.

As the two climbed the stairs from baggage claim, Duo found himself laying his head in the crook of the taller mans shoulder as the walked. He had never felt so comfortable in his entire life. It was amazing how every time Duo was even in the vicinity of Heero, his entire body seemed to get a fraction warmer, and every care he had seemed to melt away, extruded by the from the extra heat.

When they made it to the top of the landing, Duo suddenly stopped and slightly hunched over, his eyes half lidded, and mouth half open as though he was trying to catch something in it.

"Duo?" Heero questioned, a quizzical look on his face. "Duo, are you alright?" He asked, leaning down just in time for Duo to let out three short sequential sneezes, his head bobbing as each one struck.

Heero chuckled, rubbing his hand over his face to remove any traces of saliva from the sneeze attack.

Duo sniffled, and rubbed his nose with his index finger. "God, that was horrible," he mumbled, continuing to rub under his nose. "I hate when that happens," he snorted, lifting his head up and leaning back a bit, giving two strong sniffs before hunching back over.

Heero smirked at the picture. Duo's hair, slightly frizzy and out of it's braid, slightly hunched over with a red nose. "Has anyone ever told you that you're quite cute when you're frazzled?"

Duo shot a death glare at Heero as he grabbed the older man's arm, replanting it on his shoulder. "Has anyone every told you men aren't cute?" He snapped, twisting Heero's arm a bit.

"I'm not quite sure eighteen actually declares you as a man, Duo," Heero laughed out, causing Duo to stop and glare at the taller man.

"Excuse me?" He asked sternly, running a finger through the air in front of him.

"Nothing," Heero responded, laughing at the offended look on the teen's face and offering his hand out to the younger man. Duo glared at the extended hand for a moment, hesitantly laying his smaller hand in Heero's.

"Fine."

When they reached the door, Heero froze in front of it. Duo looked up at him in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Heero was glaring at the door, appearing to Duo as if he was silently contemplating something to himself. "You stay here. I'll be back in a minute," he mumbled, giving Duo another squeeze before trying to untangle himself.

Duo held onto him tightly and looked from the door to Heero. The whole thing was fine with him, he had no intention of meeting with that ass hole Wufei again, but it did seem rather suspicious as to why Heero didn't want Duo to accompany him into the offices.

Granted, Duo would never hurt one of Heero's friends, especially one from the war, but when Wufei handed him that ticket voucher he almost strangled him. He quietly asked himself, which is better, claiming insanity or letting Heero go into the office alone.

Eventually his curiosity died down and he gave Heero a small nod. He let go of Heero's arm and leaned against the counter outside of the security office, watching as the object of his affection as he scanned his finger print and entered the room.

He let out a sigh when he heard the door clank shut. Stupid Wuffers, he thought to himself, averting his gaze from the door to glare at a wall socket. This was all his fault.

If Wufei hadn't knocked up that nice lady, then that stupid baby would have never been born, so they wouldn't have come over to show Heero the baby, and they wouldn't know Duo was there and think Heero was robbing the cradle. Duo gave a small nod to himself. It was all Wufei's fault. It could be proven.

Duo jumped as the door was opened and then slammed shut. In the blink of an eye Heero had his arm back around Duo, his brief case in his other arm.

"Lets go," he said firmly, his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed.

Duo blinked twice and found himself nearly halfway down the hall, almost being dragged along by the taller asian man.

"Are you okay?" He asked, hopping a little to keep up with Heero's quick pace.

Heero nodded. "Fine," was all he offered.

"Ah," Duo replied, slightly weirded out by the look of pure determination on Heero's face. "I was just wondering because you look a little crazy."

Heero snorted, continuing to drag the smaller man behind him.

As they walked down the hallway leading to the parking garage, Heero's grip on Duo became increasingly tighter causing a slight grimace to appear on Duo's face.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked as Heero began quickly unlocking the door to the parking garage, working so quickly he began fumbling the key.

Duo started picking at the fingers holding his arm, trying to dislodge them from his reddening flesh.

Heero's shoulders began to visibly tense as he tightened his grip on Duo's arm. When he finally got the door open he shoved Duo through the door and pinned him against the inside wall, pressing his body against the younger man's.

"I don't care what anyone thinks, Duo," he said softly, his piercing gaze burning itself into Duo, who stared back in complete shock.

Heero stared down at the younger man with wide eyes. His face remained stoic as he lifted his hand to cup the smaller man's face, lightly running his fingers down the side of it.

"Do you still want me?" He questioned, dragging a finger down Duo's open lips. "Even if I was being mean to day," he added with a little smile, bringing his hands up to rub the younger man's small arms.

Duo stared wide eyed up at the taller man who was beginning to hunch over, bringing his lips closer and closer to Duo's.

As he stared up at the older man, Duo's lips slowly began to curl into a tight smile. He had intended to hold the day in the lowest esteem possible, ready to remember it with foul memories and call it the worst day of his life. That is, until Heero said those six words. The six words that made everything shitty about the day melt away. I don't care what anyone thinks.

His eyes glazed over as though tears were beginning to form. Heero's eyes became worried, thinking he might have said something to make the younger man upset, but before Heero could reach up to wipe at his eyes, the gangly teen pounced, wrapping his legs around the older man's waist and hugging him by the neck.

"Of course I still want you!" He laughed happily, clutching Heero to himself.

Heero chuckled into the teens stomach, wrapping his arms around his stomach and giving a little squeeze.

"Good," he mumbled into his stomach, before taking in a deep breath, smelling his laundry and smell that was... foreign.

Heero lightly pulled Duo away from himself, so the younger man was looking down at him. "Were you smoking?" He asked, his eye brow arched.

Duo studied Heero's face with intensity, his eyebrows arched, searching for any hint as to which yes or no would be more favorable.

It wasn't as though Heero was totally against smoking, he had taken it up himself during the war after all, but when he made it out of the war alive he realized it wasn't worth it to kill himself slowly, and quit.

It nearly killed him to do it too. That one whiff, that slight trace of cigarettes lingering on Duo brought back sweet memories of nicotine. Unfortunately it also brought back memories of quitting gum, and the thousands of patched he used to get rid of his cravings.

"No," Duo said skeptically, slowly, and keeping an ever watch on the older man's facial expression.

Heero glared up at the teen and gave his shirt another whiff. The same delicious scent came flooding into his nostrils once again. "You little brat," he mumbled, dropping the teen and pulling his arms away from his neck.

"Ow!" Duo complained, rubbing his back where it had scrapped against the wall. "That hurt you know!"

"I do know," the older man began, wearing a solemn expression. "And did you know that thousands of people die a year from smoking?" He finished, turning from the teen and began walking out towards the parking lot.

"Oh God," Duo mumbled, rolling his eyes, wondering how the day had managed to go from shit, to bliss, and finish with a parental lecture as he grudgingly followed the older man.

A.N. Oh, yes! And update! I wonder what they'll do when they get home... And the next morning. : ) Happy reading! The Stand Still is updated next. Probably the weekend.


	7. Chapter 7

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

A.N. I'm so sorry for the long wait guys, thanks for your patience.

Chapter 7

"Look, I'm just saying it's bad for you," Heero stated as he opened the door to his apartment. He waved a hand up in defense as Duo waited behind him, a dark and annoyed expression gracing his normally exuberant face.

The ride home had not been full of the sexual frustration that Duo had expected, and hoped for really, but was spent in numerous periods of awkward silence between Heero's prying questions. So, have you smoked long? No. Awkward silence. Because if you have, I mean, I wouldn't get angry. Sigh of annoyance. Awkward silence. And so it ensued.

Duo glared at the back of Heero's head and had to repress the urge to slap him for his stupidity. They could have been making out right now. Hell, they could have been making out on the ride home if Heero had driven carefully. Duo simply didn't care about smoking. It was true that he smoked on occasion, but he never found himself truly craving a cigarette on a regular basis, so he figured a few indulgences every now and then wouldn't hurt. And if it did, well, he didn't really care. He didn't really care that it was bad for him either.

Duo stalked past Heero into the apartment rolling his eyes. He didn't think he could take anymore lecture material from Heero and thus he opted to plop himself down on the couch and lean his head back so far that it lightly hit the wall. "I know," he muttered, his patience growing thin.

Heero glanced over to the couch as he began locking his door for the night. The younger man was obviously distressed.

'I wonder if it's because he feels guilty about smoking. After all, he does know it's bad for him,' Heero thought to himself, nodding slightly, as he made his way over to the couch where Duo was still glaring at the ceiling.

"Did you have fun today?" Heero asked, trying to mask his anxiety with sincerity as he sat next to Duo, awkwardly holding his hands in his lap.

Duo slowly averted his gaze from the ceiling and stared at Heero with raised brows, pausing for a moment before replying. "Oh yes," he said lightly, cracking a slight smile.

"I'm glad," Heero responded, giving a small nod. As the period of silence grew more awkward with each passing second, Heero's anxiety began to grow and he nervously began cracking his knuckles.

"You know that's bad for you," Duo quipped, folding his arms behind his head against the cool plaster of the wall, staring at Heero out of the corner of his eye.

Heero chuckled, ceasing the action and began rubbing his hand together before setting his arms at his sides. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Duo nodded, pulling his head away from the wall to stare at Heero judgmentally. "Yeah, it is," he said sharply, causing Heero's eye brows to furrow a bit in confusion. "Calcium deposits," Duo stated, matter of factly, his head now tilted a bit to the side.

"Yeah," Heero responded with a small smile, still somewhat confused over Duo's sharp tone of voice.

"Yeah," Duo answered with another nod.

Heero stared at the younger man next to him, wondering why he was acting so strangely. Then it clicked, and Heero suddenly understood why Duo was bringing up things that were bad for you.

"You know if you needed some help quitting..." Heero began, only to be cut off my a pair of lips silencing his own. Duo decided that Heero needed to be silenced by any means necessary. With less than 24 hours before he would be on his way back to America, there was no time to waste with trivial lectures.

However, Heero wasn't as sure. A small voice in his head kept trying to tell him that warning Duo about lung cancer was the most important matter at hand, but the voice in his pants cried out with an impressive amount of force, reminding Heero that the last time he had gotten laid was almost two years ago.

Heero's hand clamped onto the back of Duo's neck, causing the younger man's eyes to snap open as Heero crushed his lips against Duo's.

"Heero," Duo mumbled around the older man's lips. "You're gonna break my neck," he got out, slightly turning his head away from Heero.

Heero let out a long sigh as he pulled his lips away from Duo's. He kept his eyes closed as he rested his forehead against the younger man's, breathing deep and shallow. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, his cheeks turning a bright pink as the realization of his actions sunk in. "I was letting my pants get the better of me."

"It's okay," Duo chuckled out, his breath hot against Heero's face. "You don't have to stop, just try not to use such a vice grip."

Heero raised his head as Duo slung one leg over the older man's waist, straddling him as he lightly kissed his neck.

Letting out a little chuckle, Heero gave the back of Duo's neck a little squeeze. "I'm not sure that's possible."

"Sure it's possible," the younger man breathed into his ear.

Heero let out a shallow breath, turning his head to the side, exposing more of his neck to the younger man. He placed his hands on Duo's hips, pulling him closer as all memories of the smoking fiasco were erased from his memory.

"This is so wrong," Heero mumbled, gripping Duo's sides tighter in his large hands.

Duo chuckled against his neck, sending shivers up and down Heero's spine. "You can say stop," he replied, wrapping his arms around Heero's neck.

"As if I could really do that now," Heero whimpered, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "But God, you're only 18."

Snickering, Duo went back to lightly kissing Heero's neck. "Is it so bad?"

At first Heero didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "I guess not," he replied, subconsciously accepting that there was something quite different about the once soft, velvety voice of an 18 year old Duo.

Heero opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling, letting all the feelings from his neck shower over his body. He couldn't shake the feeling that what he was doing was wrong, but it was just so hard to care. Most people had to pay 18 year olds to do these things to them at Heero's age.

"Are you okay?" Duo mumbled, running his fingers up and down Heero's chest.

The older man sighed in reply and tilted his head back away from the wall where it had been previously resting. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, opening his eyes as his head turned towards the young man sitting on him.

The very young man.

Heero's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open like a gaping fish. While he couldn't place what was different about Duo's voice when he was mumbling against his neck, he certainly knew what was different about it now. It was higher. Much higher.

"What's the matter?" The little boy sitting on Heero's lap asked, reaching his small hand out to rub the older man's cheek. "Did I do something wrong?"

'I'm going to kill Wufei," Heero thought to himself, horrified at the sad, confused expression on the child's face. Heero lightly pushed the vision of the 5 year old Duo off his lap. He barely caught sight of the hurt look on the Duo's face before he rested both his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands.

"Heero?" Came the little voice, and a small hand shaking his shoulder. "What is it?"

"I," Heero started, raising his head to attempt to make eye contact with the little boy. "God, I can't do this," he mumbled, stumbling off the couch and running towards his bed room.

Shutting his door behind him, Heero rubbed a hand over his face while the other remained on the wall, guiding him towards his bed. His eyes were wide yet unfocused as he tried to erase the feeling that he had just about to do it with a 5 year old. He flopped down on his bed, grabbing a pillow and burying his face in it, an action he was becoming quite used to since Duo had arrived.

How was it possible that someone who he loved so much made things so difficult. 'Because he's barely legal," a small voice in his head answered.

The door to Heero's room opened with a light click, as soft beams of light poured into the room from the crack.

Heero closed his eyes tighter, and pulled the pillow closer to his face, not wanting to see the little vision of Duo.

He was too busy cursing Wufei's existence and damning him to hell for planting the idea in his head to hear the pitter patter of feet across his floor and to feel the bed shift next to him.

Heero nearly whimpered when two small arms wrapped around him from behind.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Came a small tentative voice.

Heero viciously nodded his head against his pillow, afraid he might actually burst into flames if he actually had to talk.

"I didn't mean to freak you out," Duo trailed off, resting his cheek against Heero's back. He didn't really expect a response from the older man, but was nonetheless disappointed. "Do you just want to go to sleep?" He asked, rubbing Heero's back softly.

Heero nodded vigorously, and Duo let out a small sigh. "Okay."

Duo curled onto Heero's back, pulling him as close to himself as possible, resting his check against the warm skin of the older man.

'Not exactly the best way to be spending our last night together,' he thought to himself as he was lulled to sleep by Heero's even breathing and heartbeat.

Heero woke up an hour before Duo did the next morning. Some time during the night the two seemed to have switched positions, leaving Duo plastered to Heero's chest, creating a nice little puddle of drool that trailed down Heero's stomach.

The older man stared down at Duo, running his hand down his messy braid. He vaguely wondered when during the night Duo had aged back to his 18 year old self.

Duo grunted in his sleep and snuggled closer to Heero, bringing a smile to the older man's face.

He wrapped his arms tighter around the younger man, bringing him as close to himself as possible, planting a soft kiss on the top of his head. "Please," he mumbled into Duo's soft hair. "Please, don't go."

After Duo woke up the two spent most of the day locating and packing Duo's things in an awkward silence.

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Duo said as he began stuffing his socks into the corners of his bag.

Heero stared at the young man from across the room, no emotion apparent on his face. "It was no problem," he mumbled back.

As the two made their way to the airport Heero gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. His inner voice kept crying out, telling Heero to stop the car and beg Duo to stay, but as Heero glanced over at the younger man, he saw no regret in his face. Heero sighed, Duo probably wanted to go home.

When they arrived at the airport Heero carried Duo's bag to the gate and waited as Duo got his boarding pass.

"Well," Duo said as he walked back towards Heero from the counter. "I guess that's it."

Heero nodded, not trusting his voice to remain steady.

Duo looked towards the ground before taking a step closer to Heero and wrapping his arms around the older man's neck.

"I'll miss you," he mumbled into his ear, pulling back and giving Heero a small smile before taking his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Duo turned and began walking towards the line to board his plane, leaving Heero standing passive, staring at the young man as he got closer and closer to the boarding gate.

When Heero saw Duo hand the flight attendant his plane ticket something clicked in his head.

'What am I doing?'

"Duo!" Heero called out.

The younger man turned around in front of the boarding gate to face the older man.

The two stared at each other in silence before Duo let out a small smile.

Heero ran a hand through his hair, unsure of how he wanted to phrase his goodbye to the man who had haunted his dreams since he was 18. "I really wanted to be with you," he finally called out.

Duo's smile grew as he repositioned his bag on his shoulder. "I wanted to be with you too," he called back, giving Heero one last smile behind he turned and boarded the plane back to America.

A.N. This is not the end of the fic! Unless you like stories that end like this, and in that case... don't read the next few chapters.


	8. Chapter 8

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS.

A.N. I thought I'd try something a little different with this chapter.

Chapter 8

I stared at the boarding gate long past Duo had gotten on the plane. I felt oddly passive staring at the metal door that the man who had haunted my dreams for years had walked through just minutes before. Why didn't I stop him? Why did I think those words sufficed for what I felt about him?

'I wanted to be with you?' God, what the hell was the matter with me. Why did it feel like I always realized what to do ten minutes too late.

'God damn it,' I muttered, plopping myself down into one of a dozen metal chairs that were conjoined by bars facing the gate. 'I'm such a fucking moron,' I muttered to myself, leaning over my knees with my head resting in my hands.

'It's always hard when the first one flies the coop, isn't it?' A hand clamped down on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. I looked up to see an elderly, plump gentlemen standing slightly behind me wearing a small, somber smile.

'Pardon?' I asked, not taking my eyes off him as he moved to sit in the chair next to me.

'My wife cried for three days when our little girl left for college,' he said, taking out his wallet and showing me a picture of a young woman with long dark hair.

'Your daughter?' I exclaimed, my eye's wide as realization began to set in as I took the picture. 'Oh god,' I thought to myself, wanting nothing more than to melt into the chair I was sitting in.

'Yup,' he said with a sad smile. 'Where was yours headed off to?'

I felt like stabbing myself to death with my car keys. 'America,' I mumbled, putting my face in one hand, and extending the other, which held the picture, to the man.

'Ah, pretty far away,' he stated, patting my shoulder twice as he placed his wallet back into his pocket. He stood behind me for awhile before letting out a sigh. 'The pain will ease, son.'

And with that, the man finally left me alone in my misery.

Half of me wanted to hop on the next plane to America, while the other half painfully reminded me that I would be chasing after an 18 year old man who apparently was mistakable for a woman. And not only would I be chasing him, I'd be chasing him halfway across the world.

After a while I decided to just cut my loses and sulk at home instead of at the airport. At least at home Wufei couldn't stumble across me, since he should have been working that day and was thus probably lurking around somewhere near the gate to make sure Duo got on the plane.

The drive home felt painfully long. It was like each stop light away from the airport was another knife plunging into my chest. I kept asking myself why I was going home? Why wasn't I on a plane to America? And the answer kept repeating, each time growing more painful.

'Because I'm an old man,' I mumbled to myself as I drove my car down the ramp into the parking garage. 'I'm a stupid old man.'

My feet felt like cinderblocks as I trudged to the elevator. The ride to my floor felt longer than normal, but since Duo had left everything seemed like it was happening in slow motion. With Duo gone the apartment felt stale, and cold, and empty. But not as empty as I felt myself.

I found myself googling his name too much, and spending most of my time staring at his picture on the computer screen, desperately wishing he was with me.

There were hundreds of websites dedicated to the artist that had stolen my affections, and I probably went to each of them at least 10 times. I soaked up every ounce of information about him I could find. His favorite food, movie, hobbies, anything I could lay my hands on.

This went on for a few days. I called in sick to work, I didn't shave or eat. Personal hygiene had been placed on the back burner as I learned more and more about the young man who had haunted my dreams since I was 18 years old. I didn't quite understand what I was going to do with the knowledge I had acquired, but I did know that it was almost like an addiction. It was as though I thought I could fill the emptiness I felt due to Duo's absence with information about him.

Maybe I was so obsessed because if I knew all about him, then it wouldn't be so bad to be in love with the young man. Maybe I could find some grounds to base my feelings on. Or maybe I was just a 30 year old stalker.

But I didn't find anything. We barely had anything in common, and so I kept searching.

Favorite beverage, favorite author, favorite tv show.

Then one day in the midst of my searching I found something very interesting. An instant messenger screen name. DM196.

I had AIM installed on my computer. Quatre and Trowa were often on the computer and they had convinced me to download it so they could talk to me whenever I decided to log on. I hadn't logged onto AIM since I had downloaded the application, but now I found a pretty strong reason to log on.

Yuy196

I stared at the screen intently as the little circle spun with intensity before the program informed me that I was online and had apparently received mail, but I couldn't imagine from who.

I was nearly shaking as I added the name to my buddy list. And to my surprise, his name popped up with a chipper ring to alert me that he was online.

Yuy196: Hello? Are you there?

My eyes were glued to the screen as I waited for him to reply. Questions began running through my head. What if he didn't answer me? What if he thought I was a stalker or something and got freaked out?

DM196: Heero?

I let out a sigh of relief as I began typing my response, a dorky smile plastering itself onto my face.

Yuy196: Yeah, it is.

Yuy196: How was your flight?

DM196: Ugh, I got seated in front of this brat who kept kicking my seat and the woman next to me threw up half the trip.

My fingers froze on the keyboard, and I blinked twice to make sure I had read that correctly. I had, but how was I supposed to respond to that?

Yuy196: That's... unfortunate.

DM196: I'll say.

DM196: So... how did you get my screen name? Are you stalking me or something?

I thought about slamming my laptop shut and hiding in the closet.

Yuy196: Kind of I guess. I googled you.

There was a long pause before he responded to me, and I spent it staring intensely at the screen.

DM196: Haha, good call. I almost ran off the plane when I realized I hadn't even gotten your phone number.

The smile returned, and I felt like giggling. Then I had to smack myself since a man of my age should never giggle.

DM196: Miss me yet?

Still smiling, I took in a deep breath and began typing my response.

Yuy196: Yeah, it's weird not waking up in a puddle of drool.

DM196: I've heard you get used to it.

My smile grew a fraction as I closed my eyes and raised both arms above my head to get in a good stretch. He was so far away. And yet he was right here. It was a miraculous feeling. Right then, at that exact moment, I realized that I would always be remarkably grateful to the internet.

Yuy196: I hope not.

DM196: ...you didn't...like... find any pictures of me did you?

I snickered, running a hand through my bangs. Obviously he was afraid I'd found his scandalous picture.

Yuy196: Not much other than your art work.

DM196: Oh, okay. I was just wondering. You know how the press can be.

Yuy196: Yeah, I know.

DM196: So what do your numbers mean?

I re-read that about three times before I answered, not being able to make any sense out of it.

Yuy196: My numbers?

DM196: Yeah, on your screen name. What do they mean? Mine are my favorite number. 196. It's my favorite.

My fingers hesitated over the keyboard. 196 was the code number on my dog tags from the war.

Yuy196: It's my favorite number too.

DM196: Can I ask why?

Again I paused.

Yuy196: I just like it. Why is it your favorite number?

DM196: It was embroidered on the jacket that soldier gave me when I was little.

Shit, I had forgotten about that.

Yuy196: Oh. I can see why it would be important to you.

I contemplated telling him that I was the soldier right then, but the fear of his reaction kept my fingers at bay.

DM196: Yeah, it's kind of cool that we have the same numbers though.

It was amazing how those words made me feel like pond scum.

Yuy196: Yeah, it's quite the coincidence.

--------------

After I had gotten Duo's screen name I let go of my depression and started going back to work. Even if getting through the day was hard, seeing as how all of my thoughts kept drifting back to the 18 year old, it wasn't a problem anymore because I knew he'd be waiting for me when I got home.

'Your rather antsy today," Wufei mumbled, staring at the wall of monitors.

I glared at him but stopped bouncing my foot against my knee. He knew I was in a rush to get home, and I certainly didn't want a lecture from him a fifteen minutes before I got to leave.

'Yeah,' I muttered, glancing down at my watch. 5:45 p.m.

Wufei sighed, and spun around in his chair, grabbing my wrist and effectively breaking my eye contact.

'What the hell, Wufei?' I growled, ripping my wrist away from him.

'So, what time is it America? What two? Three in the morning?' He asked, raising his eyebrows as he crossed his arms across his chest.

I glared. 'It's almost one.'

Wufei rested his legs against the ledge below the wall of monitors and leaned back in his chair. 'So, does this young whipper snapper get any sleep?'

I stood abruptly and within a second was about an inch away from Wufei's face, my hand gripping a fistful of his shirt.

'I'm getting tired of this, Wufei,' I growled, giving him a hard shove that caused him to make a satisfying thud when his chair tipped over backward and he hit the floor. 'If it wasn't for you he'd probably still be in my apartment and getting plenty of sleep.'

And with that I gave one last scathing glare to the man looking up at me with a shocked look on his face and then I was out of the security room.

I figured I had suffered enough abuse from Wufei for the day and decided to clock out five minutes early.

When I got home I glared at my computer. I didn't want to admit to myself that Wufei may have been right, but the evidence was becoming quite evident.

Maybe Duo didn't even want to talk to me anymore. Maybe he just viewed me as that old guy who kept interrupting his sleep patterns.

I scoffed, savagely throwing my coat down onto the bed and proceeded to divest myself of clothing. It may have been 6: 10 in the evening, but my sweat pants looked awfully comforting.

As I sat down on my bed I pulled on my wool socks and stared at my laptop. It looked so innocent, nestled in the corner of my room, but I knew different.

I ran both hands through my hair, gripping it tightly.

'I just want to be happy,' I muttered to myself, wondering when I had become quite so pathetic.

I let out a strangled cry as flung myself off the bed and pointed at my laptop. 'I'm not going to let you do this to me anymore!' I cried as I flung my door open and made my way to the kitchen.

'I'm not going to live a lie anymore,' I mumbled, rustling through my kitchen drawers until I came across a yellow pad of paper and a pen that I had stolen from a hotel.

'I'm not going to live a lie,' I repeated, writing furiously.

When I was satisfied with the letter I folded it into three sections and went back into my room to look for an envelope.

I scrambled around my room, searching through every drawer in my desk until I found the desired object. I stuffed the yellow paper into the envelope and opened my laptop so suddenly it seemed as though it could have flown off it's hinges.

After I logged onto AIM I saw exactly what I expected, and had seen every night since Duo and I had our first online conversation.

Online: DM196

Yuy196: Duo, I need your address.

DM196: What for?

Yuy196: I need to stop living a lie. And I'd too much of a coward to do this directly.

DM196: ... okay...

DM196: So are you drunk?

Yuy196: Not to my knowledge.

DM196: Okay, good.


	9. Chapter 9

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

A.N. Sorry if this chapter bothers any of you. I have absolutely no clue as to how international mail works and so I'm just going to say for the sake of a story line that in my world it takes about a week and a half for a piece of mail to travel from Japan to L.A. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Also, I have NO IDEA what L.A. is like, so just pretend that this is L.A. in the Gundam universe...

--

'Yes, I know you can't physically go into the all the mail bins and find my letter,' Heero growled into the phone, rubbing his eyes with the hand that wasn't clutching the phone.

Wufei sat smugly on the bed across the room, watching his friend pace frantically as he tried to find anyone with the postal service who could help him, which was apparently no one. Heero was growing more frustrated by the minute. So far he had been on the line trying to explain his problem for two hours and twenty seven minutes. Obviously the members of the Japanese postal service were far less trained than those in the airline industry.

'You aren't even listening to me,' Heero screamed into the phone, resisting the urge to slam the receiver down on his desk multiple times. 'I just need to know on average how long it takes a letter to reach America! And the odds of a letter traveling that far of getting lost!'

It was only a day and a half after Heero mailed his confession to the young American, that he actually realized exactly what he had done. It took a minute after that for him to realize that he wasn't ready to spill his guts about such a personal topic to the man he loved, especially not in a letter.

'I'm not attacking the Japanese Postal Service! But there must be instances of letters being lost when traveling that far!'

Wufei glared at his friend, his head resting against a fist that he desperately wanted to pummel his friend with. He had never agreed with Heero's obsession with Duo, and it that feeling of distaste had not faded with time. A child had no place tagging along with a soldier, and a teenager had no right hanging onto a man in his thirties. Nevertheless, the back and forth conversation with the Postal Service had started to grind on his nerves.

'God,' he mumbled, raising off the bed and snatching the phone away from Heero. 'Just tell us how long it takes a letter to get to America, you insolent cow!'

Heero stared wide eyed at Wufei. It was true that his friend had shown on numerous occasions that he possessed a temper that could shake the strongest foundations, but he so rarely used it that it always came as quite a bit of a shock when it reared its ugly head.

'About nine to ten days? Fine, thank you,' he said, and roughly put the receiver down on the phone dock. 'There, are you happy now?' He asked, crossing his arms against his chest with a glare, hoping to express his anger at both Heero and the situation.

Heero stood next to his friend, wide eyed but a faint smile growing on his face. 'I am,' he chuckled, running a hand through his hair. 'What would I do without you, Wufei?'

'Probably not do something that could get you arrested,' he mumbled in response, moving to plop back down on his friends bed.

Heero glared. 'How many times do I have to tell you that it isn't illegal before you believe me?'

'It's weird, okay?' He muttered in response, falling onto his back and glaring at the ceiling.

'Weird I will give you,' Heero stated with the point of a finger as he began rummaging through his closet. 'But it is not illegal.'

For some reason, he kept trying to stress that point the most. Quatre had actually pointed it out to him. They had been speaking on the phone when the subject of the letter arose, and for Heero one of the deciding factors had been that it wouldn't be illegal to pursue a relationship with the younger American. Heero would always remember the look on his friend's face as he dropped his head and shook it side to side, before he told him that the real deciding factor should have been about love, not whether or not it was legal. Heero was still somewhat confused about that though, what good would it be to love Duo if he was in jail and never got to see him?

Wufei let out a sigh and closed his eyes. 'Please don't do this,' he mumbled. 'I so rarely ask you for anything.'

Heero stopped his search through his closet and turned to give his friend a half glance. He had respected his friends decision not to support him. Hell, if Heero hadn't lived through the whole ordeal and realized how much Duo meant to him, he'd probably be on Wufei's side. But there was something about him. Something that made his insides tingle whenever he thought about the young American. And that feeling was strong enough to break friendships. 'I can't let him find out this way, he deserves better than that.'

Wufei scoffed and sat up. 'So what if he does find out? So what if he doesn't! Heero your a grown man, and your chasing after a teenager who could change his mind about you in a flash.'

Heero shook his head, and began looking through his closet again. 'No. He thinks about Odin every day, he told me.'

Slamming his hands against the mattress, Wufei stood and stalked over to Heero, grabbing his arm and giving it a firm tug, forcing his friend to look him in the eye. 'And what's he going to think when you hop a plane to America and say "oh by the way, I'm the soldier who saved your life when you were a little kid!" You know as I recall most teenagers get highly offended when they realize they've been lied to!'

Heero ripped his arm away, pushing the smaller man away from him. He reached down on the floor and pulled out a large duffle bag, which he heaved out of his closet and threw on the bed.

'I don't plan on telling him,' Heero responded, grabbing clothes and throwing them into the bag. 'I plan on going to America, intercepting the letter and destroying it, and then telling him when I'm ready.'

'And how long will that be?' Wufei asked, leaning against the closet door. 'A month? Two? How long will this kid let you stay with him? Does he even know your coming?'

Heero paused shoving his clothes into his bag. Duo didn't know he was coming. Would that be a problem? What if he asked Duo and he told him not to come? That'd he had his chance and he blew it when he let him walk onto that plane. For a moment, Heero was completely at a loss. But then he remembered that Duo had said "I love you" after only knowing him for two days, and then he got over it.

'Oh, he'll let me stay,' he answered confidently.

'Even if he does, what are you going to do? Just stay in America for ten days? You're not going to have a job when you come back if you do this,' Wufei growled, grasping his friends hand as it zipped up his duffle bag.

Heero stared down at his friends hand and let out a sigh. He hadn't really planned on coming back. If everything went to plan there wouldn't really be a reason to come back. He'd have Duo, and after that what more did he need?

Wufei shook his head. 'Oh no,' he muttered. 'Please say you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking!'

'I'm sorry, I won't say it, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking it.'

The flustered man threw his hands in the air and sulked away from the bed. 'You've got to be kidding me,' he mumbled, kicking a small trash can that lived next to Heero's bed. 'You've just got to be kidding me.'

Heero shook his head. 'You don't understand how much he means to me. He's haunted me ever since I met him.'

Wufei glared at the wall. 'I hope he's worth it, Heero. I really do. Because otherwise your spending thousands of dollars to come home to no job and no apartment.'

Heero winced. Sometimes the truth stung.

--

Heero let out a big sigh of relief as he stepped out of that hellish airport and into the warm California air. The flight had been long, very long. The longest form of torture Heero had ever endured, and that included all his time in the service. It was that woman, he'd have to remember her when he really wanted to inflict some pain on Wufei, you know, in one of those "I told you so" induced pain situations.

Martha had been a very friendly woman. So friendly, that she had absolutely no problem with telling Heero her entire life's story.

She had grown up in Kanas, and had always dreamed of seeing Japan. As a child she taught herself Japanese out of text books, made herself Japanese food out of Japanese cook books, and taped her eyes to give them that slight slant. Indeed, she was in love with all things Japan, and she was more than happy to tell Heero about all the travels she made through Tokyo.

For the first three hours Heero managed to keep a smile on his face. However, when the fifth hour started rolling by Heero was developing a distinctive twitch in his left eye.

He let out a shiver at the memory of Martha. Surely she would haunt his dreams for months. The memory of the plane ride made chills run down his spine even though he was encased in warm air.

L.A. was a lot different than he had expected. It was a lot like Tokyo expect people wore twice as less clothing, and the city was spread out across twice the area. It took him about ten minutes to hail a cab, a task easily accomplished in Tokyo, and another ten to explain where he wanted to go to the driver.

"No, I need to go to Northside Apartments!" He said, pointing to the piece of paper that he had scrawled Duo's address down on. Unfortunately he had not thought ahead and wrote it down in Japanese, so pointing did not really help his driver.

"Where is this Northside?! I do not know Northside! I need street name!"

Heero and the cab driver then had a death stare off before Heero finally exited the cab and found a cab driver with a GPS navigation system. And all seemed to be well in the world

"Oh thank God," Heero mumbled from the backseat, watching the palm trees whiz by. Soon he'd be at Duo's apartment and he could get his plan underway.

The cab driver, an older man with graying hair and a bright orange hawaiian shirt caught a glimpse of his new passenger through dark sunglasses and smirked to himself. The poor guy was obviously lost, probably a tourist who was staying with friends but with no real idea where he was going.

"So what are you in town for, sir? Seeing the sights?"

Heero tore his gaze from the window and smiled at driver's reflection. "No no," he began, letting out a little laugh. "I guess you could say I'm seeing an old friend," he finished, folding his hands on his lap.

The driver nodded. "Excited?"

Heero let out a little smile, but sighed. "Kind of nervous actually."

"Well I'm sure that you'll have a great time catching up."

Snorting to himself, Heero's smile faded as he turned his gaze from the driver to the other cars whizzing by. He hoped he would have a great time catching up, but he doubted it would go down that way. He'd been having horrible images of telling Duo, and then seeing the rage build up in his eyes before his leg connected with a very valuable part of Heero's body.

He winced. "I hope so," he muttered, watching the highway slowly turn into city traffic and then into skyscrapers. Beads of sweat started accumulating on Heero's brow. He had been in the car nearly forty minutes, he had to be getting close.

Heero stared at the window for ten more minutes before the cab pulled into the Northside Apartment complex.

Each building past made Heero's heart pound harder. He was getting closer to Duo, and that meant he was getting closer to either being happy and loved, or pathetic and rejected.

As the car slowed Heero took in a large breath and tried to regulate the racing of his heart.

"This looks like it, son!" The cab driver said, turning around to flash his passenger a bright smile. "It's twenty forty, and I'll pop the trunk for you."

Heero stared at the apartment building with horrified eyes, and he contemplated telling the driver to just turn around and take him back to the airport. HIs hands shook as he took out his wallet, pulling out the fare and tip before exiting the car and handing it to his driver though the open car window.

"Thanks a bunch!" The driver said, raising the fair. "And good luck with your friend!"

Heero nodded and moved to the back of the car, wrapping his hand around the strap of his duffle bag and slinging it over his shoulder. After closing the trunk he gave the car two firm taps and it began to pull away from the sidewalk.

Apartments in L.A. were very different than in Tokyo. These didn't really even seem to be apartments. They looked like squashed houses, with a little stairway leading up to a small porch, not even big enough to put a chair on.

Heero looked from the apartment's face down to his attire. He was sure he looked like hell in the face, seeing as how it was reaching the early morning in Tokyo and yet it was only mid- afternoon in L.A., so he had tried to make sure his clothes looked okay.

Setting down his duffle on the sidewalk, Heero began straightening his bright blue button up shirt, tucked into dark blue jeans. He had spent way too much time in the airport staring at himself in the mirror, making sure he looked okay, so he wasn't going to waste time worrying about it now. He took in a deep breath, and slung his bag back over his shoulder.

Each step toward the apartment made him feel heavier and heavier. Breathing became difficult, making him take shallow inhalations as his palms began to sweat and his vision started to blur.

He stared at the wooden door with wide eyes. There was a little buzzer next to the door, and he tried to raise his hand to it, but it was as though it got farther and farther away as his hand came towards it. Or maybe it was just that Heero was pulling his hand back from it.

"Okay," Heero said to himself. "You are a grown man, and you can do this. It's really not that big of a deal, it's just hitting a doorbell. You've done it a thousand times, and you can do it one more," he whispered, pressing his finger to the small white button.

It let out a short angry bell, making Heero jump and his eyes get wide. "Oh my God, I did it," he gasped out, taking a step backwards.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice came over the intercom.

Heero stared wide eyed at the intercom. It was Duo's voice that called over that little speaker. 'Say something,' he thought to himself. 'Say anything!'

"Uh, um, Duo," he muttered. Turning his eyes to the side walk.

"Heero?!" The voice screeched, causing the asian's eyes to go wide. 'He knew it was me from just that?' He thought to himself.

The door in front of him flew open, and Duo appeared breathless in front of him, clad in a pair of dark blue boxers. His hair was half pulled out of his braid and his bangs stood up in nearly all directions.

"Oh my God, Heero!" The young man cried out with a bright smile on his face, throwing his arms around the larger man, causing him to drop his duffle. The older man's eyes went wide before he closed his arms around Duo, resting his chin against the smaller man's head.

Duo pushed away from him and took a step back, throwing a light punch to Heero's shoulder. "I just can't believe you're here," he laughed out. "Come in!" He said, extending his arm to Heero.

The former soldier smiled and took the hand of the long lost child on L2. He let Duo lead him into the apartment and as the younger man closed the door behind him, it was painfully clear what needed to be done. Things needed to be set right.


	10. Chapter 10

Japan Air

By: SukiNora

A.N. For the rest of the fic I think I'm going to try writing it in Heero's POV. The rest of the story is going to just to be too hard to write without being inside Heero's head. I hope you all like this chapter, it's kind of different for me but... Happy reading!

--

I knew I shouldn't have allowed myself to fall into things so quickly at Duo's apartment, but being led straight to the bedroom of the man I had been pining over can have quick affects on the brain. Meaning of course, that within a few minutes there was absolutely no blood to reach my brain and help it remind me that I believed sex with an eighteen year old at my age was quite wrong.

I hadn't been in the apartment more than a second before the door behind me was slammed shut and I was being shoved against the wall next to a small staircase that I assumed led to Duo's actual apartment.

"God, I missed you," Duo breathed out against my lips. I could feel a smile tugging against his mouth and I all together forgot about protesting about his rather unorthodox way of welcoming me into his home and gripped the back of his neck in my hand. "I can't believe you're actually here."

"Neither can I," I mumbled, resting my forehead against his. I felt so sedated from the kiss that I could barely keep my eyes open.

Duo chuckled and I felt his pull back slightly against my hand. "Do you want to come up?"

My brain was so muddled that it took me a few moments to answer. "I'm not really even sure how to answer that," I breathed out, half laughing.

He joined me in laughing before he pulled away from me and grabbed my hand. "Come on, you doof."

He pulled me up the stairs, laughing and looking back at me the whole way. I smiled up at him, not really hearing what he was saying, just basking in the warmth of his smile and realizing how happy he made me.

When we reached the top of the stairs he turned and pulled me close, planting a light kiss against my lips. "Should I show you to the bedroom?" He asked with a mock british accent.

I let out a full fledged laugh and pulled the smaller man against me. "You know I didn't fly all the way to America just for that," I mumbled into his hair with a smile.

'No,' I frowned a bit at the thought. 'I flew all the way to America to steal a letter and make sure that you don't find out something I should have told you the second I realized who you were.'

Duo pushed himself away from me and threw a light punch at my chest. "I know that! I just meant that you must be tired. Isn't it like almost morning in Tokyo?"

I glanced down at my watch. It was early afternoon in L.A. and in Tokyo the time was in the wee hours of the morning. "I guess it is," I mumbled, being led across a living space towards a pair of french doors leading to what I assumed was the bedroom.

"Wait," I said, as he opened one of the doors and stepped inside. "I don't want to make you go to sleep this early. It's 3 p.m."

Duo snorted, poking his head out of the door and rolling his eyes at me. "Please, I just went to sleep a couple hours ago."

I stared at him incredulously. If that was Duo's lifestyle I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it through a week with him in his own home environment.

"Are.. are you serious?" I choked out, my eye brows furrowing in concern. I really wasn't sure what to think of the whole situation, so I did the only thing I could think of. I made a joke.

"You party that hard, huh?" I teased, trying to let out a chuckle only to find it coming out as a strangled breath.

He laughed at my attempt at humor, but clearly he was just being polite. I personally wouldn't have even laughed at that joke.

"It's not like that, Heero," he chuckled, raising his hand to my arm and giving me a light tug towards him. "But you know, when creativity hits, it hits."

It was only then when I stepped into his room and realized what he meant.

My eyes went wide. The whole room was covered with sketches and paintings, the room in essence breathed Duo.

"Oh my god." The words escaped my lips before I even had a chance to come up with something better to say. I walked towards the wall closest to the door and lightly ran my fingers over numerous sketches that were tacked to the wall by the hundreds. The room was engulfed with a soft paint smell from the canvases lined up along his floor, and I found it strangely intoxicating.

I turned to look at Duo. He had moved to stand next to me and had a small smile on his face as he gazed at the wall. "You don't really notice how much you really have until you really look at it, I guess."

He turned his head to smile up at me. "I guess I've been a pretty busy boy since I've been back."

And with that statement, all my self control was thrown out the window. Everything I had prided myself on when he was in Japan was painted over by the intense desire to just feel Duo. And so I finally pushed all my worries into a little corner in my brain, and let my body take over.

I reached out and roughly grabbed his arms, yanking him towards myself as I crushed my lips against his. He let out a little yelp of surprise but it was muffled as my hand moved to the back of his neck, holding his head in place as I explored his mouth.

His arms reached up to wrap themselves around my neck, and like clock work the hand that wasn't holding his neck moved down to his ass, urging him to wrap a slender leg around my hip. It was hard not to smile as he chuckled into my mouth, giving me no warning before he gave a slight hop and straddled my hips as I tried to keep my balance.

"I'm really surprised I didn't have to talk you into this," Duo gasped out as I moved my arms around him to ensure he didn't get dropped and I did topple over. "I was really just planning on letting you sleep."

I chuckled into his neck as I began nipping the smooth skin there. "I'm sure you were," I mumbled into his skin, trailing kisses up his jaw until I took him into another kiss, one he eagerly responded to.

I couldn't control myself after that kiss, it was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. I pulled him tight against me before I slammed his smaller body into one of the sketch covered walls I had just been admiring. From there, I like to think I blacked out, or at least that's what I was planning to tell any police officers if I should ever get arrested for some of the things I did to that teenager.

"We really made a mess of your room," I breathed out, looking around at the place, still trying to catch my breath.

Duo laughed next to me on the bed, rolling over and resting his head against my chest. "Yeah we did," he answered, gazing around the room. His floor was littered with sketches, most that were crumpled and some that were probably covered in some bodily fluids.

I cringed, rolling over and reaching down to pick up one of the ruined sketches that had an unmistakeable wetness. "I hope you weren't particularly fond of this one," I said, raising it to him to he could see the damage.

He took the picture from me, crumpling it up before tossing it back onto the floor. "It was a small price to pay for mind blowing wall sex."

I laughed into his pillow as he crawled his way over to me, resting his head on my back as he draped an arm across me. "I guess it was," I replied.

Duo smiled into my back and gave me a firm squeeze. "I just can't believe you're really here."

"Neither can I really," I mumbled.

Duo laughed, giving my back a small punch before getting off me and began trying to roll me over onto my back.

"Oh please, you can to. You're the one who decided to come here," he said in a strained voice. I pretty much outweighed him by fifty or so pounds and I really didn't feel like moving. "Why did you come anyway?"

I opened my eyes, and my smile faded against the bed. I wasn't really sure what I was going to tell him as to why I decided to come. I really didn't want to lie to him, but it just seemed like there was nothing I could say that would be totally honest, so I decided to just bend the truth if you will.

"I wanted to tell you something face to face," I mumbled, finally allowing myself to be rolled over.

"Oh?" He questioned, leaning up on his elbows. "What's that?"

I tried to give him a smile but it just felt too fake. Raising my hand I traced the side of his face. "I'm not sure that now would be the best time to tell you."

Duo eye's widened in mock horror. "Oh God, please tell me you aren't married," he jested.

I snorted. "As though I could find a woman dumb enough to fall in love with me."

The smaller man smiled at me, pushing off the bed and raising himself just enough to brush a light kiss over my mouth.

"Well, you found a man dumb enough to," he said against my mouth.

"You're so young to be saying things like that," I replied, my hand moving to the back of his neck. I turned over slightly, so I could lean over the young man.

"You're too old to be denying it."

I trailed kisses down Duo's neck as that statement played over and over in my mind. I'd never been in love with anyone. I had no idea what love felt like, it wasn't a soldier's place to know that. Ever since I was a teenager it had been my duty to fight and defend, not to love.

"Promise me something," I mumbled into his neck, nipping it a bit with my teeth just to hear him gasp.

"What," he moaned out, arching his body against mine.

"Promise to give me a second chance," I replied, halting my assault on his neck to lean over him, looking into his eyes and seeing them clouded over with desire. I hoped to God he'd remember this promise after we were finished.

"A second chance for what?" He inquired, reaching up and pulling me back against him.

"Just promise," I said, my tone coming off a little more desperate and pathetic than I had intended it to.

Duo loosened his grip around my neck and looked at me with worry and confusion all over his face. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, letting out a sigh. I really hadn't intended to kill the moment, I just wanted to be sure. In case something went wrong... "Please just promise," I mumbled, unable to meet his gaze.

Duo placed a hand under my chin, raising my face to make eye contact. He rested his forehead against mine and smiled. "Everyone's allowed one mistake right?"

I smiled back with a nod, reaching down to give him a tight hug while he whispered that I'd always get a second chance. I just hoped he'd stay true to that promise.

I was shaken from my thoughtful trance by two firm pats on the back. I loosened my grip on the smaller man to see him smiling up at me.

"Tell me something about yourself," he said, pushing on my chest so I wouldn't be hovering over him anymore.

"About me?"

"Yeah, just tell me something."

"Well," I started, not really sure how we had so quickly gone from making out to making conversation. "What do you want to know?"

He furrowed his brow in thought. "Tell me," he began, his forehead becoming more crinkly as he thought. "Tell me something no one else knows about you."

I flopped down onto my back, raising one of my hands behind my head and started to think. There wasn't much I could answer that with that didn't involve the war. Well Duo, I've killed over a hundred men, no one really knows that except my old war buddies. That probably wouldn't come off too well.

"That's pretty impossible I think, that no one knows," I tried, not really in the mood to play his game.

"Alright, well, something not many people know then."

I'm a murderer.

"It doesn't have to be anything big."

I'm the soldier you obsessed over for almost more than half your life.

"Just something."

I took in a deep breathed and nodded. I laid there for a few moments, trying to come up with something before one popped right into my head.

"Okay," I started, rolling to my side and propping my head against my fist. "I used to be completely and utterly addicted to cigarettes."

Duo's jaw dropped open. "Are you kidding me?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Nope, you could say they were my first true best friend."

"After all that shit you gave me over smoking! I quit, by the way," he quickly added, pointing to a few pieces of nicorette on his nightstand.

"Yeah, well," I started, reaching out to brush a stray hair out of his face. "It's so bad for you. And it took me forever to quit, I really hate when people smoke around me. It makes me want to french kiss them so I can suck the smoke out of their lungs." (1)

"God, well I wish you would have just done that to me instead of lecturing me on the dangers of smoking for two hours."

I patted him on the head. "Well, at least it got you to quit."

"I guess," he muttered, trailing a finger down my chest. "You know why I started smoking?" He asked me.

"No, why?"

"That soldier who saved me smoked," he replied, a small smile drifting onto his face. "It's just always been such a comfort for me."

I felt the color drain out of my face. Christ, how badly had I affected this poor kid.

"Duo," I started, sitting up and resting my elbows on my knees. "I feel like..."

The younger man quickly sat up next to me, throwing his hand over my mouth. "Don't even say it, Heero."

I turned my head and looked at him in confusion.

"Look, I know it seems like all I'm interested in him. I know I talk about him way too much, and believe me it's gotten me in trouble with other people too. That's actually how I lost my first girlfriend," he mumbled. "But it's not like that with you."

He removed his hand from my mouth and pushed my knees down so he could straddle my hips. "I never thought I'd meet someone who could make me want to stop searching for him," he whispered to me, brushing his lips against mine. "But you did."

Duo leaned forward against me, pushing me back down on the bed as he trailed kisses down my chest. I was torn between grabbing him and kissing him until we both couldn't breath anymore, and throwing him off me and telling him that I was the man he'd been searching more than half his life for.

"God, Duo," I gasped out as his hands started running up and down my sides. "I just..."

He raised his head to give me a light kiss, cutting me off. "Lets not talk about it anymore," he whispered against me, as his hands moved to a more intimate area and effectively erasing my mind of any inner conflict I once had.

We laid in bed for the rest of the day, and for the first time in a long time, I had no worries of what I was going to do about the letter, or what I was going to tell Duo. I just held him in my arms and was happy that I had him back in my life. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was a teenager again.

1: One of my favorite quotes from Keeping the Faith


End file.
